# 207 – Tel Aviv is Sexy

June 4, 2012

We won’t go into WHY Madonna opened her latest World Tour in Israel – whatever the reason, and whatever I write, I have a feeling that many of you are not that interested.

But she did – and your roving reporter was there to record the event!

My nephew, Kevin, is here from Vancouver. He’s a Madonna ‘appreciator’. He had already booked to see her when she hits Vancouver later. But was happy to double that when he saw the dates crossed  – at almost 1/4 the price – and I had the pleasure of grabbing the 2nd ticket. (I don’t think I was the oldest in the +/- 35,000 crowd). I won’t be the ultra-critic – can’t please everyone all the time.

But for us it was a great evening. I went on my bike – he on a public rented one. Took us 20 mins from my home + a short walk through the par . I had the joy to gaze at some of the fans – always a pleasure (from an old man’s point  of view). The warm-up entertainment and time could have been better presented.  But ‘the Queen’ did not let us down. Great stuff.

For the sake of this letter, I have to point out that Madonna made a pathetic attempt to bring peace to the Middle East. “We’re all the same, religion, blood, peace-loving etc. “. For some reason, the show will not be put on in Gaza, Tahrir Square, Damascus, Beirut, nor Marseille.

Not even on a screen. And, for some reason, her opening 2 songs including “Bang Bang”, including her doing ‘a Breivik’, by shooting every dancer in sight with an explosion of sound and a gigantic splatter of blood on the screens behind. Tarantino could not have produced it better.

I should let Kevin write the rest of this letter. He’s been here a few times, the first as an exchange student back in the mid-80s. Has always loved it here, DESPITE the problems. A few days ago, I let him use my bike and off he went for a few hours from the north of the city, along the promenade down to Jaffa – and back. As he walked through the door, he was already excitedly describing his experiences. “Tel Aviv is a sexy city”, was his theme.

The beaches, the variety of peoples, languages, noises, activities. Sport everywhere, music, religious walkers, sexy girls and flashy guys, Arabs, elegantly-dressed Russians, old people exercising on the beaches, young people doing the same on the one of several public open-air gyms. YOU name it, it was there, a strange mixture of cacophony and harmony.

In these few days, Kevin has attended family party in Haifa, a half-day at the Dead Sea (now within easy reach of Tel Aviv since the new Jerusalem bye-pass road opened), late lunch in Arab town of Abu Ghosh, a day with more family south of Sea of Galilee, on the Jordan river, he’s been to night clubs in Haifa and Tel Aviv, had warm hummus in Jaffa and falafel wherever.

He even visited our 97 year-old aunt, seeing that life for the aged here CAN be terrific. (She started painting 2 years ago..).

I’m not saying this is a place which is everyone’s dream. (And I have to inject the following: CBS’s 60 Minutes had a programme recently on Tel Aviv –

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7409182n&tag=contentMain;contentAux,

and their view was very similar to Kevin’s.

An island of modernity, fun, technology, beaches and mish-mush. But their interviewees, including the Mayor, a leading reporter. etc. felt that it was little-bit ‘cuckoo-land’, that the problems around them could explode in their faces anytime).

But what I AM trying to get through to whoever’s listening is that, even when NOT left alone, even with so much pressure/hatred from outside ever since the country was established, this is a great place, where smiles are common and everyday life is normal.

Stephen