Cool Things To Do With Leftover Matzah (music video)

Ok - this passes my "not too geekily Jewish web content" bar...



(H-T: Israelinsider.com)

Israeli rockers getting 'by with a little help from...' Oleh! Records

Friday afternoon is a time when many Israelis are winding down, preparing for the Sabbath or taking a break at the end of a hectic workweek before heading out for a night on the town. But at Tel Aviv's Levontin 7 club, situated in a seedy, rundown neighborhood in the south part of the city, hundreds of young, hip looking Tel Aviv musicians have gathered to hear a presentation from Jeremy Hulsh, a shy and earnest Chicago native who speaks little more than a stumbling Hebrew.

But they have patience even when Hulsh switches to English. Because the purpose for this unlikely gathering is the launch of Oleh! Records, an ambitious new initiative which hopes to transform the way Israel is seen by Americans, while at the same time propelling some of Israel's most talented young musicians into the international limelight.

'It's Good Now!' (music video)

Here's has a great video of Israeli pop rocker Gilad Segev, doing (what I think - correct me if I'm wrong) a cover of "Ach'shav Tov - It's Good Now."

Opening with notes picked on a cleanly amped acoustic/electric guitar that's reminiscent, to me at least, of the Eagles' Hotel California, the tempo and rhythm pick up from there.

Essentially, it's a "road trip" type of song in genre and content, as Segev meanders back in his memories to scenes of youth and childhood innocence. The soft-focus camera work also serves to amplify the theme. Sweet.

Give a look and listen, as I try to find a translation of the lyrics.

Tenor sax legend Michael Brecker, Z"L (RIP)

Michael Brecker, in concert in Middleheim, Belgium in 2003.

His official is site here, the Wiki entry is here:

Michael Brecker (March 29, 1949 - January 13, 2007) was a popular US jazz saxophonist of the post-Coltrane era. He won 11 Grammys as both performer and composer.

And from the New York Times:

Having taken a deep understanding of John Coltrane’s saxophone vocabulary and applied it to music that merged with mainstream culture — particularly jazz fusion and singer-songwriter pop of the 1970s and 80s — Mr. Brecker spread his sound all over the world.