Aviv Gefgen to release first album in English

October 23, 2008 - 10:44 AM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: General 

Aviv is EmoIsrael’s number one moperocker and emo poster boy Aviv Geffen is poised for, ahem, ahem, international stardom with the release of his first all-English solo album. Gefen has recorded in English before, most notably with Stephen Wilson of The Porcupine Tree. The two achieved success in Israel and Europe with their band Blackfield which delivered two albums of pretty damn good prog-pop. His new album is being produced by veteran producer Trevor Horn and Geffen has lined up a few key opening spots on former Suede frontman Brett Anderson Berlin and Paris gigs as well as a few opening spots on Mercury Rev’s current tour. Geffen and Mercury Rev go way back. A few years ago I saw Mercury Rev at Hangar 11 in Tel Aviv (incredible show!) and Geffen joined them on guitar on a song or two.

Ynet reports:

“Anderson got my latest album from my London office,” Geffen told Yedioth Ahronoth. “We met for coffee, he told me he loved the songs and then asked me if I would like to open for his Berlin and Paris gigs. “I was floored. He just set it all up with the office. We’re also talking about headlining a concert together. He’ll be performing my songs and I’ll be performing his. This is a really big deal,” Geffen continued. “Brett Anderson, to me and to an entire generation that grew up in the 90s, is a big deal and someone to learn from.

While I do concede that Geffen has an incredible gift of melody I am a bit skeptical whether he can pull off an entire album in English. You can hear a couple of tracks on his myspace page. His accent isn’t as strong (thought it is there) as I have heard in the past but the lyrics are, uh, not so good.

You can watch his electronic press kit on the YouTube:

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My bilingual baby

July 25, 2008 - 2:40 PM by · 3 Comments
Filed under: Life 

Princess PoopypantsSo my 15 month old daughter has been sprouting up words for the past few months. It is surreal enough for me to actually be a parent but thing but to have her actually communicate is truly bizarre. What’s really amazing is that she’s racking up both English and Hebrew words. It started with Abba/ Dada and Ima/ Mama – which is now mostly Dada and Mama (I really wanted her to call me Nighthawk but that didn’t work out). But she still seems to have a growing range in both languages. Yesterday she said ‘tapuach’ when offered an apple. Though she knows the word apple – also as it relates to all other fruits that she doesn’t call ‘nana’ – she seemed really excited to enunciate ta-poo-waaa.

Then the other night she said, na’alayim (shoes). Now she’s been loving her shoes (the English versions) for the past month, eagerly getting hers to put on, treading in mine, bringing my wife’s shoes to her and even putting some on Noonie our incredibly patient dog. But tonight, seeing our shocked responses, she continued to point out all the na’alayim in her books, around the house, etc. Plus she had major fun pronouncing the words, experimenting with the ‘y’ and ‘l’ and ‘yim’ sounds.

So to record the larger achievements in both languages, she’s also got the following words down pat: hello + halo + shalom; ball + kadoor; bye bye; balloon; ma zeh (what’s this) and mee zeh (who’s this); book; doggy; duckie; soos (horse); shoes + na’alayim; peh (mouth); ‘znayim (ears); baby; sing; mayim (water); bottle + bakbook (though she really says abottle); degel (flag); nadned (see saw or swing); noonie (our dog); cookie; lo + no; two; apple + tapuach; banana; todah (thank you); and opah (or oopsy, said when someone or something). She also started recently saying ‘hi mama’ ‘hi dada’ and ‘bye bye tzila’ (her teacher at school and it comes out more like tzee’a).

Oh and when she throws something down, she puts her hands on her cheeks (McCauly Caulkin style) and says ‘oy yoy yoy’. She knows this makes me laugh so she does it continuously, much to my enjoyment.

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