JDub Records

European fashion chain H&M opened its first branch in Israel last week.

Mayhem ensued.

I started recording rap tracks in 1998. In the summer of 2000 small Jerusalem indie label FACT Records released “The Blue Period” and the rest is history. So, on Saturday March 6th, 10pm, i will be celebrating a decade of  Heb-Hop, along with my dear friend and super M.C Rebel Sun (of Coolooloosh fame) and promising newcomers Ruff and DJ Funkay Fish. This will happen at the Cosa Nostra bar/club in Tel Aviv. We’re also celebrating the imminent release of the new Sagol Remixed 2000-2010 compilation album (details tba). Hope to see y’all  there!

A new Israeli tourism campaign in Canada is using some tactics I’ve never seen before to promote Israel; specifically, ones citing “size doesn’t matter” in reference to Israel being a small country with a lot…more to offer.  You can check out the video, which is definitely worth the loading time, above.

This is really an incredible story. Famed Israeli singer/songwriter David Broza will soon release an album which consists entirely of unpublished songs by the late, great country-folk  icon Townes Van Zandt.

Billboard has the story.

After receiving quite a few requests via e-mail, forum talkbacks and messages, i finally got around posting this collection of hard-to-find freestyles i did for various shows on Israeli radio, (mainly Galei Tzahal 96.6FM) between 2006-2009. Featured artists include Rebel Sun, Saz, Metro, Kashi and more. Download while they’re available, and enjoy.

Reut Yehudai might be the best-known/unknown singer in Israel right now. “Dvash” (Honey), her duet with singer Ari Gorali, was the most played song on Israeli radio last year, but most people on the street still don’t recognize her. That’s probably about to change, as she drops her debut album “Changing Speed” in a couple of weeks. Yaya Cohen-Harounoff  (of Hadag Nachash fame) produced it and yours truly had the pleasure to contribute lyrics to one of the songs.

Included above is “Kinda Simple” (Kaze Pashut), the nice first video from the upcoming album.

This Friday, Jan 29th, at the Cameri Theater in Tel Aviv, a host of Israeli artists, musicians and actors will hold a fundraising event for the people of Haiti. All revenues will be transferred to Haiti by event organizator IFA (Israeli Flying Aid) and will be used for medical, humanitarian and spiritual assistance in Haiti.

Among the participants in the event: Ninette Tayeb, Mooky, Keren Peles, Ivry Lieder, Alma Zohar, Mosh Ben Ari, Jeremy Kaplan, Sagol 59  (me!) and many others. The event will be hosted by Sarit Vino-Elad and Danny Kushmaro.

I re-met Marla Bennett at Pardes in 2001.  We knew each other through friends as teenagers, but developed a relationship and shared a tight social circle during my Junior Year abroad in Jerusalem.  After she and fellow Pardes-nik (and DJ) Ben Blutstein were killed in the Hebrew U bombing in July 2002, we were just getting JDub off the ground.  We shifted gears and our first event was a memorial concert for them called Zachor, which raised $25K for scholarship funds in their memory at Pardes.

Seven and a half years on, we maintain close relationships with Marla’s family and that social circle from Jerusalem.  We’ve grown up, gotten married, some of us have had kids.   Tonight, reading this challenging article about her parents’ lawsuit against the government of Iran (which awarded them $13 million), I was particularly struck not just by her picture, but her age: 24. As the youngest of our crew, to see that, on the cusp of my 30th birthday, brought back fully the devastation of her loss.  Visiting with the Bennett’s this summer, they said nothing of the lawsuit, of their efforts to put a lien on the Iranian embassy, or of their hopes for the good use the $13 million could be put to.  If and when conversation turned to Marla, it was not about the bombing, blame, or foreign governments.  It was about Marla, the sweet, young, caring friend and daughter.  The final line of the article perfectly sums up how the Bennetts, and Marla’s friends, remember her: ”‘I always tell people she was the best person I’ve ever known,’ said her father.”

Read the full article at LATimes.com

My good friends (and frequent collaborators) DJ Alarm & Ori Shochat were selected by Layla magazine , Israel’s nightlife bible, as two of the best Israeli DJ’s of the decade. To celebrate this, they’ve made a dope megamix of the best songs of the 2000-2009, Hip Hop and otherwise.

Check out Alarm & Shochat’s fine blog HERE

Download the festive mix HERE

Acclaimed blues guitar phenom Joe Bonamassa came to Israel to do his final 2009 gig, at the Reading 3 venue in Tel Aviv. The show was incredible. A day before, however, about 200 lucky people (including yours truly) were fortunate enough to participate in an intimate masterclass Mr. Bonamassa gave at the Artik Music School in Yahud.

Here’s a video from the event, featuring Joe’s acoustic take of the old blues staple “Further on up the road” . Enjoy!