Guest blogger Jay Firestone, the Journal’s editorial intern and in-house comedian, writes about a night out rockin’ with the Israeli music group “Feel About”:
As the Israeli indie rock group, âFeel Aboutâ continued their U.S. trip to perform in Long Beach at The Blue Café on Wednesday night, I was truly impressed to see such dedication to music. Traveling all the way from Israel, just to play music…this was beautiful. See, I too made quite an extreme journey for the showâ¦all the way from Brentwood, a rather grueling voyage considering a portion of the 710 freeway was under construction.
Upon arriving, 30 minutes fashionably too late, I was thrilled to pay the $7 cover charge that most likely went to the bandâs drinks for the eveningâ¦tzedakah, right?
But who cares. I was at an Israeli rock concert, ready to meet some fine Israeli girls, and they were most likely ready to meet meâ¦wrong. Through no fault of the band, the attendance was sub-parâ¦definitely âless than minyan status.â But who could have predicted that a Wednesday night rock concert in Long Beach would draw such a modest crowd (insert sarcasm here)?
Despite a limited ability to mingle, I was still excited to be there and engage in Israeli cultureâ¦I love Israelis.
Having unfortunately missed the blurb about the band in last weekâs Jewish Journal, I naively expected the lyrics of this Israeli band to be solely in Hebrew. Much to my surprise, however, English was the only language projecting from the amps. As I tried to understand the idea of an English-singing Israeli band, I listened to lead singer Roni Weinstockâs stunning vocals while the rest of “Feel About” jammed along. She truly has talent.
Roni, a rising star, has even been nominated for Best Female Vocalist for the Los Angeles Music Awards taking place this fall.
Did I mention I love Israelis?
From what I can remember of my 20 minutes at the bar, âFeel Aboutâ was enthused, pumped, and totally excited to be in the U.S. It was just really nice to be able to watch such a talented group of Israelis pursuing their dream. I was so ecstatic, I almost broke out in prayer. But then I remembered, there werenât enough of us for a minyan.
Photo courtesy of Yohay Elam.