Soccer Dad

Eying little countries with good intent

Gene Simmons honored a soldier injured in combat by making a video tribute.

Steve Tyler of Aerosmith dedicated a performance of Dream On in honor of kidnapped soldier Ehud Goldwasser.

Let's give some credit to Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull too, Hotshot with a flute. (h/t Saba Yeshayah.)

Reminded of his last performance in Israel almost exactly two years ago, Ian Anderson chuckles and says, "Quite right. I don't suppose you've had many foreign visitors lately."

The flute-playing mastermind behind platinum-selling rock band Jethro Tull, Anderson has been a regular in Israel even during some of the country's most difficult years, adding an extra show to a tour stop here barely two months after the outbreak of the second intifada. He returned again in the late summer of 2004.

So he didn't stay away from Israel. But here's something else that impressed me.

How does your tour work from a logistical standpoint? When do you have time to rehearse with each new orchestra in each city?
It takes about six hours of rehearsal to prepare for a two-hour show. In Israel, we'll only have time the day before the concert to rehearse because of the Sabbath, so we'll have to have another two hours before show time. I don't particularly enjoy that - it's like doing two full concerts in the same day - but that's the case here.

The orchestra receives the music ahead of time, and hopefully the musicians will have sneaked a peek at it. On some occasions, however, the orchestra doesn't see the music till [its members] sit down in the chair, which can create some additional problems in the sense that the musicians haven't had the chance to look at the music and figure out certain passages that could be a bit tricky.

Though he complains about the restriction Shabbos places on his schedule it appears that he respects the norm in Israel.

Apparently not all musicians are Roger Waters.

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