Blue carpet

November 24, 2008 - 6:53 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Movies, Pop Culture 

Hardcore Zionist: Marty the ZebraIsraelis love their celebrities. When locally celebrated pop culture figures reach even just the cusp of major international recognition, these figures feel the need to defend themselves as not being proper divas (see Shiri Maimon). When a local unknown becomes a blip on the international pop culture radar, let the Israeli embracing begin (see Eden Harel or Yael Naim).

And when a local becomes a full-blown international sensation – whoo boy, watch out for the storm of disproportionate Israeli love (see Zohan Dvir – yes, yes, we know he’s fictional – and supermodel Bar Rafaeli).

It all stems from a nation that has been deliberately starved of international pop culture contact since its birth – that is, until globalization and cable TV made such isolationism an irrelevant impossibility. The ebb and flow of Israel’s celeb-isolationism can be tracked as a parallel story to the ebb and flow of the profile of international rock acts that perform on her shores.

Known Zionist and big-time studio mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, on the other hand, is working hard to make Israel a standard destination for Hollywood’s elite – or at least for Hollywood’s elite comedic voice talents. Last year, he arranged for Jerry Seinfeld’s much-examined visit to Israel to promote his Bee Movie.

Now Katzenberg has arranged for a big-time Netanya premiere for Madagascar 2, with Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and Jada Pinkett Smith attending the screening yesterday. With the right red-carpet arrangements, apparently experiences like the Refaeli-DiCaprio debacle are avoidable. Yesterday, fans lined up, and autographed were signed.

The talent even joked about adoration here exceeding fan buzz back in the US. According to the Jerusalem Post, Stiller was quoted as saying, “This is better than any premiere we have had so far,” while Rock said of Israel, “It’s much better than Hollywood. They don’t like us in Hollywood, but here they love us.” Maybe that’s because American fans have been trained – to an extent, anyway – to ignore celebrities so as to not make them uncomfortable.

Referring to his Madagascar 2 character, Rock took the love to another level: “Marty the Zebra [pictured] loves Israel.”

So yes, Katzenberg, keep them coming. And keep this great land of ours in the international press for items that are happy and light.

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Israeli chanson on the Riviera

August 6, 2008 - 5:44 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Music 

Avishai CohenThe French aren’t exactly known for their love of things Jewish and Israeli.

But with music made by Israelis [] and Israel lovers gaining in popularity internationally, even the French are playing along. They’d better – some of the most interesting acts in the Israeli musical export roster are part French. Ramat Hasharon-raised, Steve Jobs-endorsed songstress Yael Naim was actually born in gay Paris. Cheeky electro pop DJ and singer Onili, who splits her time between the clubs and stages of France and Tel Aviv, was raised in Paris. Keren Ann moved there when she was 11.

Israel’s musical French connection was on display on the Riviera late July, when the 60th Nice Jazz Festival welcomed several Israel-related performers.

The three-stage, eight-night festival, located adjacent to a Franciscan monastery, the Henri Matisse Museum and Roman ruins, drew some 41,000 people to 48 performances by local acts as well as big names like Rufus Wainwright, George Benson, Diana Krall, Maceo Parker, John Mayall and Joan Baez.

As part of an extended French tour that included other festival appearances, Yael Naim was on the Nice Jazz roster, and the opening night included a performance by Avichai Cohen (pictured), the Chick Corea-affiliated, New York-based jazz bassist who hails from the Judean Hills.

Another descendant of the ancient tribe of Judean altar boys, international man of poetic mystery Leonard Cohen drew one of the biggest crowds of the festival on the night he played. The 73-year-old Herzlia High School-educated (true, that’s Montreal’s Herzlia High School) singer-songwriter who is reported to have shared a glass of cognac with Arik Sharon during the 1973 war is actually perfect for the Nice Jazz scene:

He wowed the international audience with a Nice-customized verse of “Hallelujah,” an acoustic version of the High Holiday liturgy-inspired “Who by Fire” and plenty of other favorites spanning his career. The festival grounds were packed with fans who sang along in awe, Cohen pausing at one point to warn a young lady who had climbed up one of the park’s olive trees to be careful.

In Europe, jazz festivals are often wide in scope, and Leonard Cohen’s show was well-suited for French audiences, his late-Sixties dreamy folk sound having long since evolved into a sort of post-country cabaret.

If only the reports of a mid-September Leonard Cohen Israel concert hadn’t been greatly exaggerated.

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Nostalgia Sunday

June 29, 2008 - 12:46 PM by · 7 Comments
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Pop Culture 

Sometime today, I’ve got to go out and find some na’aley bayit to send to America. It may seem odd to be writing about bedroom slippers just as the summer heat hits its full stride but my sister’s birthday was last week, and she apparently already bought the Yael Naim disk sent her. So, if it is na’aley bayit she wants, then na’aley bayit she shall have.

Na’aley bayit translates literally as “house shoes” and indeed, the classic Israeli “naal bayit” is far more a shoe for the home than a slip-on slipper. Firstly, it’s ankle-high with a zipper, so there’s no casual sliding in and out of the thing. Secondly, it’s got a hard rubber sole – perfect for the faux casual “whoops, I’m just slumming here at the café and didn’t notice I had my bedroom slippers on” sort of way of life. Thirdly, they’re plaid! How cool is that?! They make a total statement.
HaMegaper slippers
Now, the question is, what is that statement? Is it:
1. I’m accidentally on purpose walking around my neighborhood where I feel so comfortable that I wear shoes that don’t coordinate with my outfit which I had to zip myself into.
2. I was locked out of my house. Really. I’m not kidding.
3. I’m an ex-kibbutznik or have spent some time on kibbutz.

The answer: All three are possible.

In the Israeli mentality, na’aley bayit are inexorably bound to two things: the kibbutz and Rehov Sumsum, the Hebrew language version of Sesame Street. On the Socialist side, their original and largest manufacturer was HaMegaper, a rubber manufacturing cooperative established under the aegis of construction company Solel Boneh and then the Koor concern. Initially, according to Haaretz’s Dalia Karpel, HaMegaper manufactured tires for the British Army during Israel’s pre-state period. Later on, it began manufacturing hiking boots and slippers made of cloth, leather – all with polyethylene rubber soles. The unique manufacturing method enabled the cloth, leather and rubber to fuse seamlessly without stitching.

Wearing na’aley bayit in public gained ground in the 1970s, Karpel writes, “HaMegaper’s ads promised us that we’d feel at home in their shoes, but many who wanted the ‘laid-back look’ walked around in slippers outside as well. Kibbutzniks did it first, but city dwellers jumped on the bandwagon and turned wearing HaMegaper slippers into one of the most visible indicators of Israel’s youth.’” Popstars such as Shalom Hanoch, Meir Ariel and Alon Oleartchik popularized the look by wearing their plaid slippers outside and onstage, and HaMegaper promoted it to the hilt:
HaMegaper poster ad

And who better to wear indoor wear outside if not Kipi Kipod, the urban hedgehog host of Rehov Sumsum, who sported a pair of outsized na’aley bayit throughout the show’s run.

All pop culture trends tend to wane once they hit the kindergarten set. And so it was with na’aley bayit. HaMegaper was dissolved some years ago, and other, lesser manufacturers took up the na’aley bayit mantle. So you can still get them, but only really unhip stores or the open market shuk. Sad to say, despite a few feeble retro attempts to bring back the look, (and my sister’s loyalty), na’aley bayit are part of Israeli fashion history.

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