Macy Gray stands up to pressure to scrap Tel Aviv shows
Filed under: A New Reality, Blogging, coexistence, Entertainment, General, Israeliness, Music, News, Pop Culture
It’s happened too often in the recent past – high-profile international performers like Elvis Costello and the Pixies who book and sell out shows in Israel, and then turn around and cancel them.
The pro-Palestinian presence on the Web and in campaigns calling for these artists to boycott Israel by using catch phrases like “Apartheid state” and focusing on its treatment of Palestinians is usually the main reason for the turn around in the artists’ decision to scrap their plans.
And at least on the surface, it’s what prompted American soul singer Macy Gray to post a status on her Facebook fan page questioning whether she should honor her contract to appear in Tel Aviv at the Reading 3 club on February 11 and 12.
“I’m booked for two shows in Tel Aviv,” Gray wrote. “I’m getting a lot of
letters from activists urging and begging me to boycott by not performing in protest of apartheid against the Palestinians. What the Israeli government is doing to the Palestinians is disgusting, but I want to go. I have a lot of fans there that I don’t want to cancel on, and I don’t know how my not going changes anything. What do you think? Stay or go?”
Around 2,000 people reacted to Gray’s status update, with the majority
writing messages like “cultural boycott is an integral part of the fight
against apartheid” and “cancel your tour and stand up for human rights.”
Others responded differently. “Please don’t give in to the haters – they claim that Israel practices Apartheid, but the last time you played in Israel, the Arab students of Israel’s Hebrew University were equally able to watch you play. That’s not apartheid; that’s freedom!” wrote one referring to her last performance here in 2008.
Having evidently weighed the various responses, Gray, who has performed three previous times in Israel, announced via Twitter on Wednesday that she had decided to honor her commitment to perform in Tel Aviv. “Dear Israel fans. Me and the band will be there in 20 days. Can’t wait. See you then. Peace,” she wrote.
While the case seems closed, it apparently isn’t. According to a couple insiders in the concert promotion business, it’s not so much the performer’s conscience that suddenly lights up when met by the pro-Palestinian onslaught – it’s something much more concrete.
“Some of these artists are getting death threats,” said one member of a production team in Tel Aviv. “They’re generally apolitical and don’t know or understand the issues of the region. But when they are threatened, it suddenly jolts them. Hearing or reading ‘if you play in Israel, we’ll kill you’ can cause some people to cancel.”
That allegedly happened to Paul McCartney a few hours before his giant show in Tel Aviv in 2008, when a caller reportedly threatened to shoot him if he went onstage. Sir Paul didn’t give in and the show went on as planned.
Whether Macy Gray – despite her apparent decision to buck the boycott calls – will have the gumption to do the same, if the haters of Israel resort to such uncivilized tactics, remains to be seen.
Sitting down for Metallica
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.
Emma Shapplin crashes and burns in Haifa
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Music, Pop Culture
Usually, when touring musical acts make their way to Israel, they rise to the occasion and put on a stellar show. Just look at Paul McCartney, Faith No More, Leonard Cohen – despite the lofty price tags, they delivered with consumately professional concerts that left audiences thrilled.
But there’s another kind of concert thrill – the train wreck. Even more surprising is the train conductor in this case – French pop soprano Emma Shapplin, who launched a world tour last week with two shows, in Haifa and Tel Aviv.
Now we’re not talking about someone who you’d expect to be erratic, like grungy Pete Doherty. Shapplin has a distinguished track record of dazzling performances featuring spine-tingling vocals. Her 2003 show in Caesarea was so outstanding that she released it as a live album and DVD.
However, she’s had a few years between albums, and when I talked to her a few weeks ago, she seemed somewhat hesitant about rushing out to perform her new album Macadam Flower ahead of time.
“When we received the offer to do these two shows, I thought, ‘well, it’s a bit premature. The album isn’t finished yet, we haven’t started rehearsing,’” she said.
It turns out that Shapplin’s apprehensions were well justified. According to a review in The Jerusalem Post of the first night’s show by my colleague, Amanda Borschel-Dan, Shappelin was like a deer in the headlights.
Aside from obvious technical difficulties with microphones, etc., Shapplin was confused, forgetting words and musical phrases, once to the point of restarting a number twice and waving away the accompanist who was playing “a different arrangement… why did Shapplin decide to perform a series of classical soprano arias when she was obviously under-prepared?
While the concert-goers were justifiably unsatisfied with the performance, I found myself thinking that it was refreshing to see someone screw up in public. We’re so conditioned to perfection that any blemishes are considered to be horrible miscues and an affront to art. On the contrary, false starts, flubbed cues, and unreached notes are performance art at its most riveting.
Shapplin may have had an off night, or maybe she’s fallen off of her pedestal and is just showing her humanity. Rather than booing her, audiences should be embracing her flaws as well as her talent.
Spending the High Holidays with Madonna
Filed under: General, Holidays, Life, Music, Pop Culture, Religion
Madonna in her 'Sweet and Sticky' tour - on the way to Tel Aviv?
Of course neither her web site nor the touring industry site Pollstar mention anything beyond the August 29th final performance in Bulgaria. But considering that Madonna’s spent the holiday periods in both 2004 and 2007 in Israel with other students of Kabalah, it sort of makes sense.
According to the report, Madonna had attempted to perform here many times in recent years, but no promotor could cough up her hefty fee. And even this time, promoters Shuki Weiss and German producer Marek Lieberberg are still looking for commercial sponsors, like telecommunication giant Orange, to help defray the costs,
It’s a far cry from the relative ease it took to bring Madonna to Tel Aviv in October 1993 for The Girlie Tour. Of course, then it was a huge undertaking, with giant screens, and an elaborate Broadway-style stage show – I don’t think Hayarkon Park saw quite another extravaganza like it until Paul McCartney arrived last year. Not being a Madonna fan, I can say it was one of the most impressive shows I’ve ever seen, and left me with a new found and lasting respect for her talents.
So, whether she chooses to head of to Safed for some meditation, or hang out by the Tel Aviv shore, I’m one of those who are hoping the rumors are true, and that Madonna’s on her way back.
Springsteen – Born to play in Tel Aviv
It’s Super Sunday here, just like in the US. Except that ours lasts all the way to 5:00 am, when the Super Bowl is likely to wind down.
This year I have no vested interest in either the Steelers nor the Cardinals, and would not even consider staying up all night, if it weren’t for the half time entertainment. How many times do you get to see Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band perform live, albeit for only 12 minutes?
Apparently, it’s the only way Israelis are going to see them live. Each time a new tour is announced – and the past few years with Springsteen’s prolific resurgence, he’s been on tour all the time – I anxiouxly wait to see the European itinerary hoping that Tel Aviv will finally be listed. The dates for his 2009 tour in support of his new album Working on a Dream have just been announced, and again we’ve been snubbed, with Bruce preferring the tried and true European venues he’s familiar with like Copenhagen and Barcelona.
Granted, the Boss’s Israel connections are a little tenuous. But let’s not forget that an Israeli – violinist Suki Lahav - played on Born to Run’s “Jungleland” back in 1975. And hey – isn’t “The Promised Land” about us? And as my friend Arthur once wrote, seeing Bruce play the song in Sultan’s Pool overlooking the Old City in Jerusalem would probably be one of the most transcendent moments of any concert anywhere.
But to get down to it, the real reason that Springsteen should come here is simple – I haven’t seen him perform since moving to Israel in the mid-80s. After seeing Springsteen a half dozen times in the late 1970s, I’ve been spoiled for life, and no other concert I’ve seen since has compared.
So, c’mon Bruce – hop inside, you know just what we’re here for. Talk to your pals Bono and Paul McCartney, I think they were pretty impressed with Park Hayarkon as a venue and the the enthusiasm of the Israeli audiences. We can take you and Patti out for some humous in Tel Aviv, you can go entertain some Palestinian children like Sir Paul did, and we can even import some of Clarence’s favorite chicken for after the show.
In the meantime, chances are I’ll doze through the first half of the Super Bowl tonight in order to stand at attention for 12 minutes during halftime for the greatest show on earth.
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