Itai Pearl - South

Exams are mostly over and I still have a bit of a semester break so over the past few weeks I've been taking weekly bus trips to Beer Sheva. During the semester, I would take the Saturday night bus which always had a contagious sense of bitterness filled with soldiers and students mourning the end of their weekend and the shocking realization that tomorrow a new week begins. But now I've been taking middle-of-the-week trips at noontime and I've really grown to like them- watching the scenery on road 6 go from fields of green suddenly to yellow, not to mention that it's a direct line- perfect for napping and listening without interruption to new music. The trips are also one of the only times in which I feel completely guilt-free for not studying and they give me time to think and just space out. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about life in Beer Sheva-how I really like the modest down-to-earth vibe, not to mention the whole student scene but no matter how many weekends I spend here I can't really feel at home and know that this is just a temporary spot but I'm completely okay with it and try to enjoy it while I can. Still, I can't help but wonder where I'll head after graduation. Continuing to an MA here is always an option but there are others too. I can't see myself moving back home although there is the temptation of living next to the city and I doubt I'll be able to live so cheaply and comfortably anywhere else. Only once in a while do I get that I live in a desert and usually it's because of the sandstorms and freezing nights. The South Itai Pearl describes exists but it's not the South I feel I live in even though one of the bars in the clip is a favorite hangout of mine. He describes the South as where everything is slower and more laid back, like the American South. Maybe it's Beer Sheva, and maybe it's the student life but when I think of life in the South I think of chaos, in-your-face attitude, and the constant feeling that you aren't in the center and it's not always a good thing. But then I think about Friday afternoons-eating at the hummus place or just walking around and even though there's a magic Friday afternoon feeling all over the country, in Beer Sheva it feels so much more different than in the big cities in the center-less shopping, more cooking and resting. Maybe Friday afternoons are what define the true nature of a place. Anyway, Itai Pearl reminded me of the magic in the South and even if it's less visible in Beer Sheva and more in say, Sde Boker, it's still there glimmering in the hazy heat. (wow, didn't mean to write so much, too much free time!)

Call it withdrawal, call it running away/I wanted something a bit different, call it whatever you call it/I'm going down south/into the spaces of gravel/into the last of the heavens beating in the hearts of the desert

Into a sun still in attention to nowhere, that all of its thorns are flowers/to a country that all of its residents are all/its wanderers are guests/I'm going down south/to the sand castles/to save my soul, look for me when the bomb will fall

It's not out of an agenda, it's not really a plan/I don't have the knowledge, but I do have a car/I'm going down south/to spaces of yellow/to the only place where I think will be good for me

http://itayp.startlogic.com/

Riff Cohen - J'aime

It's so easy to be swept away by Riff Cohen's positive energy in this great song. Her previous single "A Paris" was a huge hit which had everyone in a good mood and from the sound of this she's just getting better! Riff's grandmother came to the Ajami neighborhood in Jaffa from the island of Gerba in Tunisia and you can definitely feel the Tunisian influence in her music. With the mix of rock and hip-hop, Riff adds a very refreshing touch to the music scene. The clip was shot in Jaffa and really captures its special atmosphere. J'aime!

http://www.facebook.com/riffcohen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeMtEa5QhcA&feature=related

Ivri Lider - I got to love

It's Valentine's Day! It's so easy to dismiss it by saying "We're not even supposed to be celebrating it! We have our own Valentine's Day!" (Tu Be Av, which most people saying this sentence don't really celebrate) or "It's just a capitalistic excuse to buy products!" but the truth is you can't really escape it. I really love this song and have a feeling that even cynics and anti-romantics will find it heartwarming.

And when the sun is deleted from the sky
And the heart drips from my brown eyes
Then I remember that there are hands that want me close by
I know that I got to love

When the afternoon wind
Scatters little twigs and for now it's okay
Then I remember that there are eyes that see me closely
And I know that I got to love
I know that I got to love

And when the sun comes out over the water
And another gray day begins and there's no reason
Then I know that there are lips that want me close by
I know that I got to love
I remember that there are lips that want me close by
I know that I got to love

http://www.ivrilider.com/en/

If that was a bit too heavy and you'd rather spend Valentine's with a bit of YouTube escapism here are some great blue and white videos:

the shit girls say arrived here (unfashionably late, as usual), and here are some of the best
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFoqlTQ7dT8
(based on the very popular "statuses from the 90's" which anybody over 20 can relate to)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJirT5I_yd4&feature=related
(a pretty realistic glance at life in Tel Aviv)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2RPF53DQ4U
(a pretty true glance at BGU but I must say (as nerdy as this sounds) that it's considered not only Israel's most social university, but it's also pretty high on the academic scale, especially in the engineering/science field)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa4XBA75Jtg&feature=related
(was very popular when the whole women's segregation became the most talked about item in the news, which kind of disappeared from the press (and was replaced by non-stop chatter about Iran and Embassy bombings) but it's still a big problem in Israeli society)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZd0kLWP01c
(a very different, and much classier, way of addressing the women's segregation problem)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvjbLYXnQmE&feature=related
(if for some reason you haven't seen this yet. I have to say that I have yet to meet a Jewish person who was offended by this (maybe only modesty-wise but that's it). A glimpse of what the Russian 90's immigration brought to our culture. Of course not all Russians will identify with this but it is very Russian- in a good way)

Ruth Dolores Weiss - When I Left the Room

I always thought it would be cool to release an album of covers to my favorite songs, making them my own and sharing my diverse music taste with the world, a la Johnny Cash. The fact that I have absolutely no musical skills is beside the point. Anyways, the very talented Ruth Dolores Weiss just released a cover album of her favorite songs and this song was released as her first single. At first, I thought it was a cover of a forgotten jazz song by Nina Simone or Ella Fitzgerald which Ruth spiced up a bit but then I saw that the original is by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, one of my favorite bands. Only after I heard the original I felt that Ruth really made the cover her own and it works perfectly and naturally.

He used to make me feel
Like I could do no wrong
I sang a happy tune
His name was in my song

But now his eyes foretell
Only impending doom
And I just wanna know
What he said when I left the room

We had a plan
That if we sacked away
We`d go and buy that place
Down in Santa Fe

Then some kids
Oh they would follow soon
But I just gotta know
What he said when I left the room

Paranoia heart destroyer
I feel like I could die
My mind is gone `cause you moved on
Still I don`t know why

Voices in my head
Ring like a sonic boom
Oh I gotta know
What he said when I left the room

He left a year ago
With my record collection
Now all I have
Is my own reflection

I reckon if he moved
Away to the moon
I`d still wanna know
What he said when I left the room


the original:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j9Y0IUk5-M

http://www.facebook.com/ruthdoloresweiss