Tel Aviv Rooftop

A few more impressions of Armenia, particularly the capital Yerevan , which is home to a third of Armenians. The photo above of a photographer's display window includes a few national heroes, including Charles Aznavour. A warm, inviting office building from the Soviet period. Smart new shopping parades are however beginning to erase the oppressive Soviet architectural legacy. Stunning sheshbesh (backgammon) boards on sale in a Sunday morning Yerevan street market. The game is popular all over the Middle East as well. Although almost 100% Christian, Armenia felt like part of the Middle East too and there was an obvious mixing of cultures. Banjo-playing old dude, Yerevan street market. We heard some traditional Armenian music at a restaurant, belted out by a mixed duo in traditional dress. A bit too strident and Balkan for my taste. The cathedral-like food market in Yerevan suggests a Soviet stab at capturing the atmosphere of the east. As soon as you walk in, determined moustachioe...

'Please do not bargain' reads the sign on the babushka stand in Yerevan's market. The opportunity to spend a few days in Armenia, mainly in Yerevan the capital, gave me with a taste of life in the southern Caucasus , a part of the world not often heard about until trouble breaks out there and one not often on our minds here in our own turbulent Middle East. But after learning something about the complex Ngorno Karabakh conflict (too complex to go into here) I couldn't avoid noting some comparisons. Kids in the Tigranashen village, Armenia, once populated by Azeri citizens of Armenia and now by Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan. The population swap was carried out in the last days of USSR. In case you were wondering, "Armenia is a landlocked mountainous country in South Caucasus between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea . Located at the juncture of Eastern Europe and Western Asia , it borders Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, Azerbaijan to the east, ...

The old Turkish Ottoman railway station in Manshiyeh, Yaffo, that stood empty and neglected for decades has recently been beautifully restored as a venue for events and exhibitions. The trains that use to take passengers to Jerusalem and back are now just quaint props. They should have replaced by a fast train line to Jerusalem but this will have to wait for the coming of the messiah. Meanwhile 'The Station' (hatachana) in its new guise is open for business, the first event being an art fair called 'Fresh Paint'. Part of the floor of the main station has been turned into a sort of disco dance floor. with constantly changing designs. The place was packed and so were the walls. My eyes now move instinctively towards the photographs. The one below caught my attention. It''s an obviously staged photo of a young soldier showing off his new uniform, his mobile phone, his muscles and his aggressive dog to a group of younger admirers around a water tap. The scene cou...

1. This old advert for 'Shalom' razor blades slowly peeling on the dusty window of an abandoned parfumeria can be seen as symbolic. I liked the fact that Shalom was a NEW........ISH PROCESS, although it's obvious that some of the letters have been erased. Might this have been a NEW JEWISH PROCESS? or maybe it was ENGLISH PROCESS. In any event, like the blades, shalom seems to have been superceded. 2. Rehov Alexandroni, presumably named after the Alexandroni Brigade that fought in the 1948 War, receives a new interpretation for English speakers. Apparently someone at the municipality thought they'd be more interested in meeting new people than in hearing about boring old Brigades. Photo credit: Fred Black 3. 'War Zone' by ageing rockers Mid Life Crisis was played today on the coolest music station in Israel -106 FM. This makes the second time that our song has been played on the radio thereby proving decisively that we're not too old to be rock gods. Details...

Every few weeks I take a bike ride through Yaffo (or Jaffa or Yafa) Tel Aviv's much older and much neglected sister, to watch it is changing before my eyes. In the old port area, the massive rusty hulk of a hangar that used to house fish wharehouses (before the sea almost ran out of fish)..... has been transformed into the skeleton of a what will likely be an industrialised shopping mall with galleries and and restaurants, pretty much like its recently regenerated sister Tel Aviv Port that was originally built as the Jewish response to the 'Arab Revolt' . This is part of the gentrification (some would say 'Judaisation') of Yaffo that is being fostered by the combination of planning from city hall and market demand for authentic Mediterranean real estate. Yafo - charming old Arab houses, mosques and churches, arches and alleys, shocks of colour and light - fits this bill. Back at the port, the municipality is beginning to put some life back into the still unrenovat...

For the third year in a row Florentin was the site of the biggest and bestest Purim street party in town. So big, that the crush on some street corners made breathing, let alone movement, impossible. These photos were taken at about 1 a.m. and people (all of them younger than we, many of them stranger looking) were still streaming into the area. It goes without saying that in Tel Aviv, Purim is just an excuse to dress up in a costume, act silly and get drunk. Consequently it beats other festivals hands down. Click to enlarge pics. There were many tipsy angels in the crowd. As well as delegations from the east. Everydoggie was getting into the act. Some went to extravagant lengths to gain attention. While others preferred to find a quiet corner and contemplate deeper meanings Moose meets leiderhausen in what could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

1. Mid Life Crisis has from time to time stirred from its winter hibernation, first to produce a single of 'War Zone' and then to make a proper recording of 'Bit of Faith' . We've distributed the single to radio stations but, strangely, have yet to be swamped by lucrative offers. Next move - more gigs. 2. This, believe it or not, is what the view from the rooftop looked like today, a pseudo-summer with temperatures in the mid 30s! After driving through the open oven that were the streets of Tel Aviv, we took a look at the new photo exhibition - 'Tel Aviv Time 2009' - at TA Museum and part of the city's centenial celebrations . Somehow the exhibition failed to work as a whole although there were some memorable photos. Instead of the brash buldings and renowned nightlife, the photographers focussed on back rooms, private corners, the hidden underclass, urban decay. Needless to say, many of the photos were of people in photogenic South Tel Aviv. Here's...