I loathe National General Strikes
I’m glad that it’s over. Now pick up the fracking trash.
You know you want it…
Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson Kippot
I’ve lived here long enough not to be surprised by the weirdness of Jerusalem. Novelty kippot (yarmulkes) have been the rage for years now. It’s a way of saying, “Hey! I’m a religious Jew and I love the Knicks!” or “I can live in the world of the Torah and love Elmo!”
I saw these today on Ben Yehuda street, Jerusalem’s main thoroughfare.
Do you subscribe to the School of Homer or the School of Peter Griffin?
Kind of like a Hillel and Shammai thing, no?
I know where I stand. Doh!
And what’s up with this Mercedes kippah? I guess this means we’ll have to forgive them for all that slave labor stuff they pulled during WW2. And is that supposed to be Harry Potter? WTF?
Orphaned Land at the Oud Festival
We caught Israeli metal act Orphaned Land at the Oud Festival last week. One would think that a doom metal band wouldn’t be a good fit at a festival dedicated to the Oud, but Orphaned Land was more perfect than you can possibly imagine.
While they are indeed a heavy metal band, they are highly influenced by Middle Eastern music and their lead guitarist, Yossi Saharon, shifted seamlessly between playing the acoustic guitar, saz and buzuki. I wasn’t that familiar with their cannon but it was fairly easy to differentiate between their originals and the traditional Hebrew and Arabic songs they performed. A definite highlight was their performance of Mutlu Ol Yeter by Turkish musician, Ibrahim Tatlises. Orphaned Land has a rabid following in Turkey, and they learned this song especially for their most recent performance there.
But the fun didn’t stop there. The band were joined by Yossi’s uncle on Oud, his father on vocals and his grandfather, Abraham Salman, one of the greatest living Qanun (Iranian Zither) players in the world. It was a joyous celebration of music in a family atmosphere. It felt like they do this all the time.
The audience was quite a mixed bunch. Definitely some hardcore Orphaned Land fans who chanted “Orphaned Land” in unison on more than one occasion (we joined them) as well as those who probably attend every Oud Festival performance.
So how did a doom metal band come to play at the Oud Festival? Well, according to OL lead singer Kobi Farhi, festival director Effie Benaya had Orphaned Land’s cd placed in his hand by his sixteen year old son who thought they might be a good fit. Farhi and the band seemed blessed to be playing at the festival. Yemenite vocalist Shlomit Levi brought the house down with her unbelievable vocals.
Orphaned Land is currently recording their new album with Steven Wilson of The Porcupine Tree at the production knobs. While they already have a large cult following around the world and blow away every audience that sees them perform, I have a feel once the new album comes out, they are going to be a household name. At least in metal households.
Thoughts on the Gay Parade
Well the Gay Parade Happening, Festival, Rally or whatever you want to call it came and went. Thankfully, hellfire and brimstone did not rain down upon the heads of those that attended. Although, if it did, that would have been cool. There was no violence due to police diligence. The security however, was a bit overboard. They closed all the roads within a two mile radius so it was impossible to get anywhere near the Hebrew University campus with a car. I had to park really, really far and for an arthritis sufferer like myself, it was a bit too much walking. I thought my hip was going to fall off on the walk back to my car. If you looked remotely suspicious (i.e. religious), the cops would shake you down. A friend of mine who was supposed to meet me there was turned away. He has a shady beard and forgot his ID at home.
There was definately a few thousand people there, but I honestly thought there would be more. I guess the inaccessabily of the location, the fear of attacks, and the indecisiveness of the event’s location led to a smaller crowd than I anticipated.
Anyway, I’m happy that the event finally took place, but I’m with Yael’s thinking, it was pretty much a sell out on behalf of the Jerusalem’s gay community’s leadership. In the end, it was a private event held on private property. Thrown back into the closet? I don’t know. Who am I to judge.
Now I’m no lefty, so I was fairly uncomfortable sitting through a speech by MK Dov Khenin of Israel’s Communist party. He’s a fringe politician here, and since when was civil rights a fringe belief? The only other national politican who spoke was Meretz MK Zehava Galon, who gave a very parve speech about freedom of expression and the like. Where are the centrists?
The most moving speech was given by Adam Russo, a young man who was one of those who was stabbed by an ultra-orthodox man at the last parade. He spoke passionately, wrapped in the blood stained flag he carried when he was nearly killed two years ago.
One thing that completely baffled me was a sickle and hammer waving small contigent of Israel’s communist party. Perhaps someone should educate them on how Communists have treated homosexuals in the past.
While many other bloggers attended, the only other bloggers I met there was Hanan Cohen, who I recognized from his photo. And Matt from Jerusalem with Love, who I met a few months ago at a conference. I did manage to capture one on film though. Idan found himself in one of my photos looking rather constipated.
Jerusalem Gay Parade - In Full Color!
This photo of a drag queen at the Jerusalem Gay Parade is not representive of the event at all. It was too good to pass up though. I’ve been to straight weddings that have been gayer. I have a ton of photos I’m currently uploading to my flickr page. I should have them all up within the hour. They are now all up. The photoset can be found here. I’ll get to captions over the weekend. And I’ll give my impressions of the event sometime over the weekend.
Anyone have Vitamin P?
Michael got screwed by Machal, and now his army service (which was supposed to start today) is being delayed a month due to an army fuck up. Not only that, but when he does get drafted next month, he’s being forced to do an army uplan even though the army says he doesn’t need it. Read about his situation here. Michael’s not the only one who is screwed. There are many others.
What the hell? It’s unconscionable that the army is treating these uber-motivated volunteers (for combat units) this way. This story needs to get into the mainstream Israeli media. There are Jewish young men here from abroad who put their lives on hold and gave up everything to do the ultimate act of Israel activism and they are being screwed by the bullshit bureaucracy of the IDF. Many of the volunteers are going to have to leave Israel because they simply cannot afford to stay here (and many don’t have anywhere else to stay) yet another month before (if even) they are drafted. You aren’t the army’s problem until you are in the army.
Let’s get this story out there and do what we can to help these young men.
I support the homosexhibitionists!
Want to oppose the parade? Fine by me. Oppose the parade. I don’t agree with you, and you can bet your bottom dollar that I’ll be there on Friday, dafka because of your opposition to it (and because I think civil rights is something that, you know, is good). But enough with hatred. I’m obviously not talking to all religious Jews, but the silence of the religious community is deafening. I understand that you view homosexuality as sin, and because of these views, I understand your opposition to the parade, but how can you let the behavior of a very vocal segment of your community go unopposed? Where is the condemnation of hate speech and violence? Demonstrated by last year’s stabbing attack , we know where such blind obedience can lead.
Where is all this hatred coming from? I haven’t even seen such vitriol reserved for our real enemies, you know, the ones who like, blow themselves up in our city centers and launch missiles at us? The ones who want to build nuclear weapons to attack us, and the ones who are threatening war this summer. Wake up people. A little fracking perspective please. They do not want to bed your children (or even you for that matter), they do not perform sex acts in the street, they don’t want to make you gay, and they don’t give a crap about your way of living. They live normal fulflling lives, pay taxes and serve in the army. Take a deep breath and stay away from the city center on Friday if it bothers you so much.
Nice to fan the flames Artuz Sheva!
Ben Yehuda Flowers
Tel Aviv is retro…
I miss the days of the music and fire.
Anyone know what year they stopped the show?
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