Tel Aviv Rooftop

  One of the reasons I haven't been  posting recently is the debilitating heat. This  turns the brain into mush and rules out too much physical and even mental activity during the hot'n'humid season. Still, from time to time reality forces you to escape the aircon (home, car, office) and sweat. One of the few good reasons to leave the A/C is music. And so,  a few weeks back, Mid Life Crisis, oblivious to the intolerable heatwave and flying in the face of reason, embarked on a week of intensive activity.      First came a Thursday night gig on kibbutz Maagan Michael at a 40th birthday party. The crowd was techie, and the air was ickie. As usual, we could hear ourselves at the end of the sound check but not a soon as we started playing. By the third number my T shirt was soaked. And there were about 12 numbers. The crowd was a bit flaccid and, with a few exceptions remained  seated.   On Shabbat we were perform...

Came home yesterday to hear from A that a large pigeon had smashed into the living room sliding windows with a loud crash, slid to the floor and expired. The poor thing had somehow lost its navigational skills and had not only decided to fly into the apartment under the Rooftop (instead of landing on the Rooftop itself?) but had also failed to notice that the space in front of its beak was composed of hard glass and not thin air. For some reason it struck me that this somewhat bizarre occurence could serve as metaphor for Israel: blithely following a well known course, inately confident in its own powers (whatever the rest of the world throws up in its path), squawking whenever anyone dares offer a different orientation and then clumsily crashing into a situation seemingly invisible although, with hindsight, easily identifiable. Like a solo pilot on autopilot our course is pre-charted and any further discussion therefore unnecessary. And since no-one else is interested in list...

This gaggle of kids organised itself into a little dance on the water's edge ‘Chom yuli –august’, the heat of July-August, is the name of a song by Shlomo Artzi and the condition in which we all live, or , in the case of Tel Aviv with the humidity level over 90% - barely survive. To enter a car left in the sun is to enter a furnace, the pavements stick to the soles of your shoes and shade and cool become luxury items. School's out, the air-conditioned kenyonim (shopping malls) are full but for those of fortunate enough to live nearby, the beach is still the place to be on a sultry evening. So I thought some beach photos would be appropriate.     In the fading light, mysterious figures appear from the sea 'Alma Beach' is situated in the hypen in Tel Aviv-Yaffo and is probably the most heterogenous beach in Tel Aviv. Along a relatively short stretch ,Neve Tzedek yuppies, Arab families from Yaffo, foreign workers from Sudan, hipsters and tourists share the same spac...

Happy chassid graffiti Florentin, White Night There's an astute line in a Hebrew song that could be translated as, "The worse our fate, the more we celebrate." Indeed  as the last vestiges of Israel's international standing crumble before our eyes, as tens of thousands march through the country in solidarity with the Shalit family, as rumours of "a war in the summer" refuse to dissipate in the increasingly humid air ... it must be time for a street party! White Night 2010, an all night arts festival ,covers the whole lit up city in hundreds of venues. We stayed reasonaly close the Rooftop starting out in the grubby streets of South Tel Aviv, south of Allenby. Here, the art exhibits had been craftily placed  in  unlikely locations leaving you with a question of whether life imitated art or.. Not part of the official programme : a singer performs in a Bucharian restaurant, Florentin Also not an official art exhibit , a greengroce...

Thanks Joan, it was great show The flotilla incident has been dominating our every media moment for a week and shows no signs of letting up. The crisis whirling around the rooftop's situation room seems to be one of those historic moments in whicvh processes reach a critical mass and something has to give. Who will give, how much and to whom,  is no doubt occupying the minds of the brilliant leadership (Netanyahu and Barak) who gave the green light for the botched op. Ban Ki Moon has proposed setting up an international commission of inquiry into the raid headed by former New Zealand prime minister Geoffrey Palmer. Not clear how Bibi-Barak will respond. Meanwhile bad news keeps coming thick and fast. A quick snapshot as of 13.00 Sunday:  ++ Turkish PM Erdogan is not only demanding an apology and an intternational inquiry but according to one report is also considering breaking the seige of Gaza at the head of a Turkish navy flotilla! ++On the ...

The cultural season is upon us and Tel Aviv is abuzz with people scurrying from one exhibition to another and in vast numbers. I missed the 'Fresh Paint' exhibition at the newly opened Hangar 1 at Jaffa Port but joined what seemed like thousands of people wandering aroundthe city yesterday and today clutching the catalogue of Open House weekend, known locally as Houses from Within   . Yesterday we joined an eye-opening tour along Jerusalem Boulevard (sderot yerushalayim) in Yaffo. The photo above will give you an idea of what it looked like in the 1930s under the British Mandate when most of its population was Palestinian. This will give you an idea of what it looks like today. Sderot Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Boulevard) started life as Jamal Pasha Boulevard after the Ottomon ruler of Syria and Palestine. In 1914 Jamal appointed Hassan Bek to run Yaffo. In the spirit of the Young Turks, the latter set about adapting the ancient city to the modern age. Work started on Jamal ...

It's Herzl 's150th birthday and there's not much celebrating going on. Just up the road from the Rooftop, on the corner of Herzl and Yehuda Halevi, several young men dressed up Herzl-style in a fake flowing black beard, a black suit with tails and top hat, handed out the flyer above . This reads: Herzl's 150th birthday. Today too it is no dream. Believe, Act, Change!' (I know I should have had my camera with me). Not clear who is behind the campaign. There was no phone number or website offering guidance on how to believe, act or change. On the other hand they were standing suspiciously close to Bank Leumi. Was this a government campaign to re-instill  Zionist values among a wayward, decadent Tel Aviv public or perhaps part of the bank's marketing policy? Even though Theodor Herzl is considered to be the "visionary" of the Jewish state and his inspiring slogan " If you will it, it is no dream" became the slogan of the political Zioni...