A death of an Israeli folkie

April 7, 2010 - 11:44 AM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, History and Culture, Immigrant Moments, Life, Music, Pop Culture, Profiles 

David Deckelbaum, right, with Shay Tochner.

David Deckelbaum, a founding member of the Jerusalem Taverners, Israel’s first – and best – American folk and country band, died last week in Canada at the age of 71 due to complications from a stroke he suffered a few months ago.

Deckelbaum, a dentist by profession, played a manic banjo over the band’s 22-year-history,and specialized in singing risque sea shanties.

“He brought the bawdy ballad style to Israel,” his former band mate Shay Tochner told Haaretz.

“He would often sing the bawdiest songs, but he did it with such grace, as if we were singing them to little children,” added Menachem Vinegrad, the co-founder of the Jacob’s Ladder Folk Festival, where the Taverners were mainstays for many years, performing over 20 times.

The band, formed in 1976, was named after where pub its members met and started playing together in a jam session every Thursday night, in downtown Jerusalem. Their first official show took place after UN personnel visited the pub and invited the musicians to perform at UN headquarters in Armon Hanatziv.

The band broke up after Deckelbaum moved back to his native Canada in 2002, but they reunited for one more show at Jacob’s Ladder in 2007.

“He was a kingpin of the local folk community,” Vinegrad told Haaretz. “We don’t have a banjoist of his stature in Israel, not even close. He could fill the entire stage with his sound.”

One of Deckelbaum’s five children, Yael, has forged her own successful music career as a solo folk artist and as one third of the vocal group Habanot Nechama. While growing up, she would often perform with her father and his band.

If you were a North American immigrant in the 1980s or 90s, seeing the Taverners with Deckelbaum perform brought a little of the Old Country back to you. He will be missed.

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Airless Jerusalem apartment? Sold for $1.05m.

May 27, 2008 - 10:14 AM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Business, General, Life 

Mmm. What would I do if I had $1 million to spend?

Buy an airless apartment in Jerusalem of course…

Things are getting so ludicrous in the real estate market here that a small 75-square meter apartment in Kfar David, which overlooks the Old City, sold for $1.05 million recently, even though the windows only face in one direction. What a bargain!

The purchaser was a Jewish European businessman who paid about $14,000 per square meter. Other apartments in the complex (those with more than one set of windows) sell for up to $25,000 per square meter.
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Real estate agents were complaining that the drop in the dollar rate against the shekel was impacting sales.
Not too badly it seems.

Ah, to be a millionaire. The treasures it buys.

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