About a month ago I was approached by Ana Bracho Vegas, Editorial Coordinator for Venezuelan Pop magazine Tendencia", regarding my print "Osama Ben Diesel. Anna requested my permission to publish the print as part of an article the magazine had planned about Political Pop Art.
The article was published this month and I’m especially excited about it as Venezuela isn’t too famous for being pro-Israel these days…
Funnily Political Pop Art is one of the domains I purchased for this site years ago…
As always, if you’ve enjoyed reading I’d appreciate it if you’d link back and share this with your friends.
A while back the Leadel initiative teamed up with media students at Herzilya’s IDC Sammy Ofer school of Communications to create “Leadel 7“. It’s a weekly show dedicated to covering whatever is hip and happening in the Jewish world. The project is supported by the European Jewish Congress and supervised by IBA’s most captivating corespondent, the exquisite and erudite Ms. Leah Stern.
Who needs Protexia when you have Friends?
Leah was apparently tipped about my artistic endeavors by our mutual friend David Abitbol, founder of the hippest Jewish blog out there - “Jewlicious“.
Since the Online-Anglo’s-in-Israel scene is tight (some would say orgiasticly so…) one thing led to another and I found myself invited to do an interview for the Leadel 7 show:
I think it came our rather nicely, although it was quite a shock to hear anchorwoman Andrea Cohen, who conducted the interview, refer to me as an “older guy”.
When the F**K did 35 become “Older”?!?
What did I learn?
1. All the hot girls study media
2. The really really hot girls teach media
3. I’m no longer the youthful waif I once was
A well endowed aftermath
I’d brought a print of “Land of the Fee” to the studio since I wasn’t sure how the bluescreen background would look. Since I couldn’t be bothered to shlep it back home with me I made an endowment of it to the school.
It was worth every penny I spent on the print since it amuses me no end that a shlimazel like myself made an endowment to Sammy Ofer’s edifice for the rich.
The other night, on the 24th of September 2009 to be precise, Lihi (my life partner and the mother of my daughter) and I went to see Leonard Cohen in concert at Ramat Gan’s stadium near Tel Aviv.
It was an event neither of us will ever forget.
It wasn’t just that we went to celebrate the birth of our daughter Or there (the tickets were our treat to ourselves for becoming parents : ), it was the entire atmosphere of the evening.
The man somehow succeeded in granting the 50,000 people that came to hear him the feeling that we were all in some intimate jazz club, and Cohen, rather than was singing to a massive stadium was in fact just sharing the evening in the company of the most intimate circle of his closest friends.
Although he turned 75 this week, he gave a generous 3 hour concert, multiple encores, and ended by skipping off the stage in funky little dance steps : )
It was especially comforting as he had collapsed at a concert in Spain earlier this week and everyone here was kind off worried about him…
Leonard’s is legendary, so it was no surprise that to experience him was incredible but it was a real treat to discover how amazingly talented his band is.
The current ensemble features Sharon Robinson and the Webb Sisters (background vocals), Roscoe Beck (musical director & bass), Neil Larsen (keyboards & Hammond B3 accordion), Bob Metzger (electric, acoustic & pedal steel guitar), Javier Mas (bandurria, laud, archilaud, 12-string acoustic guitar), Rafael Gayol (drums, percussion), Dino Soldo (sax, clarinet, dobro, keys).
“Everything that’s beautiful is cracked, that’s how the light gets in” - Leonard Cohen
…to top it all off Leonard signed off with “Birkat Cohanim” - The traditional Jewish blessing that Cohens (the literal Hebrew word for “priests”) give unto the congregation.
By the way, Our daughter Or (Hebrew for light) has just turned 3 months old. Her favorite “soothing song” is Leonard’s - “Marianne” : )
“Moments like this Mike are what makes the creation of my art worthwhile.
Without individuals like you, this would not have been possible”
That’s how my friend, artist Susan Olmetti chose to start a recent email.
What have I done to deserve such praise?
Frankly, very little.
All I did, and continue to do, is try and support Susan in her latest charitable venture.
Over 25 of Susan’s works and installations will be offered up for auction during the “Andersonville Arts Weekend” and proceeds from the sales will benefit the “The Chicago House“, a well renowned charity that provide housing and supportive services to HIV-affected families and individuals who may also be impacted by poverty, substance abuse, and mental illness.
The event will take place on the 2nd of October from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m, and is generously hosted at the SIR Spa at (5151 N Clark St. Chicago)
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For inquiries just email Susan at
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or call Pete Hillman, the SIR Spa’s owner at 773-271-7000.
Susan says that:
Life provides us so many opportunities to help others.
I guess this is something I believe in too.
With all my heart.
Which is exactly why I’m asking you to share this post onwards and spread the word.
This evening I went to Garagegeeks. Arianna Huffington was Yossi Vardi’s guest speaker for the evening. In a nutshell the evening was a yet another case in favor of the whole Garagegeeks concept and I personally had a blast.
For those of you who don’t know GarageGeeks is an Israeli based not-profit physical and virtual space for innovative and creative people to introduce, network, expose, create, brainstorm, innovate and build. People that take part in the activities come from different disciplines such as electronics, software, mechanical, art, design, music, hacking and gaming. The spirit of GarageGeeks promotes building non-commercial projects that would otherwise may not have come to life.
Yossi Vardi makes a point of bringing his most distinguished guests (Sergey Brin and Tim Armstrong to name a few)…
…to a mildly dilapidated old garage in the middle of Holon’s Industrial zone for an evening full of geekish fun and booze. The presentations are usually pretty good too… ; )
You can see all my photos from the event below.
If you want to make use of any of my pictures feel free to do so but please credit me & link to http://DigitalArtPrintGallery.com
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