Music

Finding the groove at Jacob’s Ladder

May 14, 2018

A pre-show “review” from last week’s Jacob’s Ladder indie, folk, country, blues and bluegrass festival at the Sea of Galilee.

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Are we on the brink of a smartphone-induced mental-health crisis?

August 27, 2017

Pet peeve: the light shining from people’s smart phones at a concert or movie. I can’t concentrate. It’s rude. Is a mental health crisis coming?

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The women of Jacob’s Ladder: indie artists rock the Sea of Galilee

June 4, 2017

The 41st annual Jacob’s Ladder music festival was characterized by two surprises: the event’s first-ever thunderstorm and a standout preponderance of indie folk acts fronted by women.

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Indie rock discoveries at the fringes of Jacob’s Ladder

May 30, 2016

I’m probably the worst person to review the annual Jacob’s Ladder folk music festival that took place last weekend on the grounds of Kibbutz Nof Ginosar on the Sea of Galilee. I’m generally not a big fan of folk unless it’s either prefixed with “indie” or has “rock” appended afterward. As a result, I spend […]

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Cultivating Local Indie Acts at Jacob’s Ladder Music Festival

May 26, 2014

The Jacob’s Ladder music festival, held twice a year at the Nof Ginosar kibbutz along the Sea of Galilee, and which just concluded its spring session this past weekend, has been quietly transforming itself from a groovy environment in which to hear interesting and enjoyable music into a growing platform that cultivates and helps launch local indie […]

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Game of Thrones meets HaTikvah in video mashup

April 29, 2014

I’m not a fan of Game of Thrones. That doesn’t mean I have anything against the popular TV show based on the book series of the same name; I just haven’t found time to fit it into my already too busy TV watching schedule. But Jerusalem virtuoso rock violinist Michael Greilsammer’s new mashup of the […]

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Who Needs Peace Talks? Musical Coexistence in Jerusalem

April 9, 2014

As the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians were breaking down last week, the Old City of Jerusalem was an unlikely spot of musical coexistence. And nowhere was that more pronounced than in a hard-to-find back alley called Muristan Square where two performances demonstrated that the situation doesn’t have to be as bleak as […]

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The power of singing on Friday night

March 18, 2014

The next time you go to synagogue on a Friday night, take a moment to consider how many people are there for the davening (the prayer itself) and how many for the communal singing? If queried, most congregants will probably respond with some combination of commandedness and connection to God. But from a sociological perspective, there’s a […]

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Musical “Ah Jerusalem” Debuts at the Tower of David Museum

October 21, 2013

It sounds like the set up to an only-in-Jerusalem joke: What do you get if you put a love-struck King Solomon, an evil Crusader with a heart of gold, and a chain smoking Golda Meir all in the same room? If you add in a few catchy song and dance numbers and a heaping dose […]

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Religious Rock and Rap from the “Other” Botzer

October 14, 2013

For over 30 years, the name “Botzer” has been synonymous with the founder of the Livnot U’Lehibanot (“To Build and be Built”) work-study program that began in the Old City of Safed. So it was a bit perplexing when posters began appearing around Jerusalem advertising the performance of “Botzer” at the Yellow Submarine music club. Was the ever-energetic […]

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