Arts in Brief: November 3

K’s Choice is Israel’s choice; Indie band tUnE-yArDs on way to TA; Israeli director films movie in Canada.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Ks Choice 311 (photo credit: Courtesy of Frank Clauwers)
Ks Choice 311
(photo credit: Courtesy of Frank Clauwers)
K’s Choice is Israel’s choice
Each time veteran Belgian indie rockers K’s Choice show up in Israel, they garner more fans. After adding extra club shows in Tel Aviv last year during their comeback Echo Mountain tour, the tuneful unit, led by brother and sister team Sarah and Gert Bettens, is returning to the country on January 23 for a special acoustic show at a larger venue – the Gesher Theater in Jaffa.
Joined by keyboardist/singer Reinout Swinnen, the Bettens are on a three-month tour in support of the band’s new album Little Echoes, which features several rearranged acoustic tracks from Echo Mountain as well as cover versions of tunes by Radiohead, Split Enz, Damien Rice and even The Pointer Sisters. While the rocking side of K’s Choice has secured their elite position as one of the best bands around, the chance to witness the harmonies and intimate arrangements of the Bettens makes this a must-see performance.
David Brinn
Indie band tUnE-yArDs on way to TA
American thrift shop buzz band tUnE-yArDs will be bringing their ukeleles and tape loops to Tel Aviv for the Israel debut on December 13. The brainchild of New Englander Merril Garbus, the band features her on modulated vocals, stringed instruments and percussion, all enhanced with tape loops created on the spot.
Rounding out the group is Garbus’s partner Nate Brenner on bass.
Garbus’s vocals and visual aesthetics has been called by the New York Times as a hybrid between Aretha Franklin and Bjork, with a little Yoko Ono thrown into the mix. After recording her first songs into a dictaphone, Garbus reached the ears of noted indie label 4AD, who signed the band and released its debut album in 2009.
Their latest record Whokill was released earlier this year to critical acclaim and the band was touted as one of the highlights at this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. Now it’s our turn to see what the buzz is about.
David Brinn
Israeli director films movie in Canada
Moving, an international comedy-action film based on the novel by Israeli writer Assaf Gavron and directed by Assaf Harel, will be shot in Canada next year. It will star Asi Cohen and Yossi Marshak and will tell the story of two Israeli movers in North America who dream of returning to Israel but get caught up in a caper involving the mafia and the FBI. Harel has directed several Israeli television shows, including the popular Mesudarim. The film will be produced by Amir Harel, who made the movies Walk on Water, Jellyfish and Yossi & Jagger.
Hannah Brown
Oscar producer Gil Cates dies LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Gilbert Cates, the long-time producer of the Academy Awards and two-term president of the Directors Guild of America, has died. He was 77 and recently underwent heart surgery. Cates was found collapsed in a parking lot on the campus of UCLA.
Aside from producing 14 Oscar shows in 18 years, Cates was a producing director and president of the board at the Geffen Playhouse and a former dean of the university’s School of Theater, Film and Television from 1990 to 1998.
He was a member of the Academy’s Board of Governors for eight years, winning an Emmy in 1991 for the 63rd annual Oscars. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005.
Cates loved the awards, and was quoted in 2006 as saying, “If you want a sense of what America is like, you’ll watch the Oscars.”