Arts in brief: All-star band takes the stage

They’re going to need a bigger stage at the Barbie Club on November 14, when the musical collective Lunicidal Tendencies, featuring members of Hadag Nahash, Funk ‘n’ Stein, singer-songwriters Geva Alon and Karolina converge for the debut live performance of their recently released hit album After the End.

The mastermind of US-born music business insider Bryan Steiner, the over-a-dozen musicians began gathering for informal jam sessions more than five years ago. After Steiner played some of their music to Los Angeles producer Jamie Condiloro, who’s worked with Ryan Adams and REM, the informal project took on a new life and resulted in the 16-song album released earlier this year.

Encompassing everything from funk and hard rock to folk and country, After the End has received considerable radio airplay and critical accolades, but the formidable task of amassing all the musicians on one stage wasn’t possible until now. Joining the army onstage will be even more special guests, including Condiloro, flying in specially for the event, Sha’anan Street and Uzi Ramirez. (David Brinn)

Indie rocker

Jerry Joseph on the way Rootsy American rocker Jerry Joseph will be making his first visit to Israel in November as part of a tour that is expected to also take him to Lebanon and Jordan. Compared in spirit to iconic performers and songwriters like Joe Strummer, Warren Zevon and Patti Smith, Joseph has been making music for over 30 years, solo and with his muscular band The Jackmormons.

He first emerged in the mid-1980s in the Pacific Northwest in the band Little Women and went on to write many songs for jam band favorites Widespread Panic. Joseph’s latest album Happy Book is full of gritty meat-and-potatoes guitar-based rock and ballads. His shows in Israel include Uganda in Jerusalem on November 10, The Barbie Club on November 14, where he’ll open for Lunicidal Tendencies, and November 17 at Levontin 7.  (David Brinn)

Jazz returns to Ashdod

The Ashdod Jazz Festival will take place for the fourth year running between October 31 and November 1.

The two-day program which, as every year since the festival’s founding, is overseen by Russian-born pianist Leonid Ptashka, is jam-packed with events, incorporating some 100 artists.

The festival will take place at Hechal Haomanuyot in Ashdod, and the will kick off with a gala rendition of a jazz composition written by Ptashka and performed by the Ashdod Symphony Orchestra.

One of the standouts of the two-day bash is Argentinean- born Canadian pianist Mario Romano and his quartet.

Romano and his band have played with many of the jazz world’s leading lights, including celebrated Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava, and have toured across North America and Europe. Other top performers from abroad in the Ashdod festival lineup include American vocalist Charenee Wade, who performed here in June as part of the Hot Jazz series, and German-born Italian-American jazz pianist Antonio Ciacca, whose CV includes synergies with the likes of Art Farmer, James Moody, Lee Konitz and Johnny Griffin.

There will also be musical fare from outside the strict jazz fold, including a high energy production featuring flamenco violinist, dancer and choreographer Tania Vinokur and Spanish guitarist Vicente de Andres, a gig with veteran singer-songwriter Shlomo Gronich, and a concert by the American-Israeli Sobo Blues Band.

For tickets and information: 1-800-100-012, 08-9. (Barry Davis)

Student performing arts festival

The Tel Aviv University Student Organization and Katz Faculty of the Performing Arts are holding the 11th annual Small Bama (SB) Festival from October 21-25 at TAU’s Mexico Building.

SB showcases student work in the various performing arts disciplines and, for the first time, this year there’s a music element – TAU Music – that offers everything from folk to rock ‘n’ roll.

There are six plays competing for an undisclosed cash prize, each of which will be performed twice. They include Alik’s Bicycle written and directed by Daniel Cohen-Levy in which a soldier on the battlefield meets a mysterious little girl on a blue bicycle; Nutcases by Limor Gruberman and directed by Rakefet Benjamin, in which Veronica asks herself whether the life she’s lived for 24 years is actually hers; and Miki Yunes’ Knit & Clean, exploring what happens when shapes change. Tickets are NIS 10 for students and NIS 30 for the public.

As for the music, there’s two or three shows daily. For instance, The Assembly plays funk-rock; no-holds-barred CamelBack Rock challenges you to last it out; Wake Up Suzzys offers rock based on old Hollywood movies.

There’s also a ton of free stuff, from an exhibition on what it takes to make a production, to dance theater, to the TAU Wind Band and much more. The TAU Music launch is 8:15 p.m. on October 23. (Helen Kaye)

‘The Dictator’ playing Queen’s lead man

Sacha Baron Cohen is about to take a step back from the crazy movie roles for which he is known to portray legendary rocker Freddie Mercury in an upcoming film. While rumors about Cohen’s role as the late lead singer of Queen started spreading two years ago, confirmation finally came last week. The band’s legendary curly-haired guitarist Brian May assured fans that the film will be released in 2014.

There is no word yet if Sacha will shave his trademark bushy moustache for the role. (JTA)