yfflaediy 6AL 4- learea/ hp effeate zerafrf -1/ Arts Entertainment Oakland Press `67 /-9"zed mak a cemehei e?-z 41171 " Observer & Eccentric Open 7 days a week! Relevant Escapism Sunday-Wednesday 1 OFF r& TOTAL LP BILL Israelis turn to comedy to cope with the intifitda. Not Good with any other offer. Expires 5/31/03. Thursday- Saturday JESSICA STEINBERG. Special to the Jewish. News 1 Not Good with any other offer. Expires 5/31/03. FRESH SOUPS, SALADS. Sr. CREPES 172 N. Old Woodward (NE corner of Maple S. N. Old Woodward) (248) 283-0260 fr,,,,s,,,e,,, s Israelis lined up for gas masks and headed to Home Depot to purchase plastic sheeting and duct tape as protection against a possible chemical or biological weapon attack from Iraq, comedians Shai Goldstein and Dror Raphael, known as Shai and Dror on their weekly television show, poked fun by impersonating a gay couple sealing their Tel Aviv apartment. While fake mustard gas blew in through the window, the two men ran around their apartment dusting mustard powder off the coffee table and taping plastic over their artwork. "Quick! Get the vase!" yelled Shai. "Don't let it ruin the finish!" War with Iraq, the continuing intifada (Palestinean uprising) and gung-ho political leaders worldwide have always offered humorous fodder for Israeli comedians and entertainers, who continually seek the twisted humor inherent in the country's ongoing matzav, otherwise known as "the situation." Shai and Dror wipe mustard gas off their priceless art- work; comedian Eli Yatzpan lampoons Saddam Hussein, Ariel Sharon and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak with equal fervor; and the local networks debate how long they A Erez Tal and Orna Banai of "Only in Israel" have to broadcast scenes of the most recent attack before returning to regular programming. When Channel Two decided to return to its usual broadcast of a weekly soccer game immediately following a terrorist attack last March, the national broadcasting authority fined the station. Several weeks later, the network tried a different option, using a split screen to show the scenes of an attack as well as an ongoing soccer game. The decision was debated in the nation's papers, but Israelis didn't complain, not as long as they could watch their weekly game. Similarly, the black humor displayed in Only in Israeh a one-hour Saturday Night Live-like show on Friday nights; has created little public debate. Last March, after 25 Israelis had been killed in terrorist ESCAPISM on page 66 c4fi taestvA it, of Novi r Sunday-Thursday Only 1111111.1111. ROOTS from page 61 Two Dinner Entrees or Two Lunch Entrees I Expires 5/31/03 i No sharing • One coupon per table i Not good with any other offer I. ..... ... — ........................— — ri Seafood itrat Pot, :Rut Aidatp anyttuote! 5,teft, Neve."1 fitarzett! - £und .Dintte4 Speciab. Daityl • Beer & Wine Available • Open for Lunch 8 Dinner • 7 Days a Week Mon.-Sat. 11-10 • Sunday 11-9 47690 Grand River Ave. • Novi NW Comer of Beck & G-‘and Rkr Look for the Home Depot 248.347.7020 www.detroitjewishnews.com 5/ 2 2003 64 Find out before your mother! vast majority of popular tunes. According to Manor, that military-musical Caspi, and has seen music fads come and go with synergy is a major part of the current national gay abandon. nostalgia trip in Israel, even if the "memories" Manor feels the current retro trend in Israel the songs draw on are not always entirely has something to do with a search for roots, accurate. both cultural and religious, at a time of a crisis. "Any evening of community singing will "I have always thought of community singing, include army band numbers that paint a picture in Israel as a substitute for going to the syna- of a 'different' Israel. If you ask me, the Israel I gogue," says Manor. remember from those days was not exactly the "There is something patently religious in the same as the one the songs describe," Manor assembly of people at a closed venue reading says. "It's a bit fictional to talk about those days from projected text slides that's like reading as being the best of times . . But that's the charm from a prayer book. The songs they sing also Israeli songwriter of nostalgia." actually include liturgical material, like Adon Ehud Manor: However, Manor feels it is not just the con- Olam' and `Shir Hamaalot,' and material taken "I have always from the Chasidic repertoire and [Rabbi thought of community tinuing regional conflict that has spawned the dip into the past. "I think it's a combination Shlomo] Carlebach." singing in Israel as Being surrounded by countries unwilling to a substitute for going of two factors. There is definitely an attempt to escape from the intolerable situation we are accept the existence of a Jewish state in the to the synagogue." in right now. midst of the Muslim world means that the mili- "The other reason is the public's disenchant- tary was — and continues to be — a constant and central ment with the lack of inventiveness in contemporary mate- part of people's lives. rial. All the rap stuff is basically beat and no melody. Even In the early days, in Israeli musical terms, this generated the new music made in Israel is less melodic. Melody is a countless scores with themes based on happy or sad events basic emotional need. That's also why people are indulging from the battlefield and celebrations of the country's newly in nostalgia." won independence. The retro wave is also providing food for thought, and A look at the annual hit parade of any year between 1948 ready-made album material, for the newer members of the and the early 1960s reveals that army bands performed the