Thanks to the kind generosity of 16th Street JCC in DC, I scored two tickets to go see Ivri Lider at 9:30 Club. I am not going to link to the Wikipedia on Ivri Lider, because if you don’t know who Ivri Lider is, I am personally revoking your Jew card (although I don’t have much authority to do so since I didn’t even know what Shavuot was a couple weeks ago. But Ivri is totes more popular than Shavuot anyway.)
Tanya went as my date, because you can never have too many Russian girls at an Ivri Lider concert. Also, we were outnumbered by Israelis. How do you know there are Israelis at any given concert? When the flyers outside specifically state that the artists requests you don’t take any pictures or video and as soon as the lights go off, you hear the sound of 10 Sony D-120s turn on and snap away. It was comforting to be in the presence of so many people blatantly breaking laws and social boundaries and strangers talking loudly into my ear. I felt like my internship in Tel Aviv all over again.
Patting myself on the back vigorously for how good this shot was.
Ivri was great, though. He played all of his hit songs, and I tried to look like I was singing along to impress the Israelis standing next to me. The only one I could really sing along with, though, was “Kos HaKhula,” which I knew from my “Da IzreAl Workouuut MIX!!!!!!!” which has been on my iPod since the Clinton Administration. I swear I don’t know who put it there.
Ivri can really get the crowd going. Not only is he a talented singer and songwriter, he is also a great performer. He doesn’t say much between songs, but gets the energy going very quickly and is very attuned to his audience. I’m really glad I went, and at this point, my tally of seeing Israeli musicians is three to one over Americans. I’m not going to embarrass myself by telling you that the only American group I’ve seen is the Backstreet Boys.
Ivri does not look like a hallucination in real life.
Here is me stealing Tanya’s very high-quality video of “I Kissed a Girl” from last night. Chopstick.
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Thanks, Larry, for flashing your New York Jewish cred. Some of us are happy just to get an Ivri soundbite every 2-3 years and subsist meagerly on Sabra humus that we hear by word of mouth is now available at our local Giant supermarkets, and here you are, throwing down with Dor Hadash, going out to Tahini/Chickpea/Sabra/Shatila (whatever their current incarnation happens to be), and casually meeting Israeli women. Thanks, Larry, for making those of us not in New York feel that cold wind of Diaspora once more. Send some cookies from Jew York.
Oh, and, Joel, saw the interview before I went…was great :).
And may I add a SHOUT OUT to DOR CHADASH in New York City for hosting the IVRI LIDER concert in Manhattan’s Webster Hall last Sunday night, and arranging for many of us to hang out with Ivri for an hour before the concert began. And best of all, there were some really cool fresh chocolate topped cookies at the pre concert reception. And even better, after the concert I spotted and chatted with some very buzzed and loud Israeli women who had been to the concert (they were still wearing their orange wrist bands on from Webster Hall) at the Tahini (previously Chickpea) Israeli style felafal restaurant 4 blocks south of the concert venue
Check out a great interview with Ivri Lider by our local favorite Ezra Butler:
http://www.1938media.com/forum/blog.php?b=112