Celebrity Grapevine

Aki Avni and Noa Tishby were among the guests that belatedly rang in the New Year at ml's party.

tishby avni 88 248 (photo credit: Shay Velich)
tishby avni 88 248
(photo credit: Shay Velich)
WHEN THE two spokespeople for your product live abroad but happen to be in the country at the same time, it's a great excuse to have a party. Avi Malcha, the owner of the ml fashion chain, was thrilled that actress Noa Tishby and basketball player Sarunas Jasikevicius were in town. Other celebrities who came to join them at the Stoppa Club, where they ate sushi, sipped champagne and danced, included Aki Avni, Shiraz Tal and her current beau, Ofer Amir, Itzik Zohar, Gilat Ankori with her husband, Michael Greenspan, Lucy Davidovich and several of the members of the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team with which Jasikevicius used to play. Tishby was thrilled to see Ankori, whom she joyfully embraced, and was equally delighted when Avni put in an appearance. Davidovich, who has adopted a completely new look, almost didn't make it past the security people outside the club who didn't recognize her.
  • SOMETIMES, CELEBRITIES have to go to lengths to please their fans. Hip-hop star Kobi Shimoni, better known as Subliminal, was the emcee at the Stage Club in Tel Aviv, which hosted a benefit show for people of the South and the soldiers stationed there. In addition to introducing other performers, Shimoni sang, and during a dancing break, he went backstage where fans were eagerly waiting for him. One young woman asked him to autograph the padded push-up bra she was wearing.
  • BUT AN obsessive fan of actress and model Yael Bar Zohar went even further. While it's not unusual to name one's children after famous people, Orit Hagibi named her triplets Yael, Bar and Zohar. Before she got married, she made it clear to potential suitors from the start that any children would have to be named after Yael Bar Zohar. Any man who did not acquiesce was instantly scrapped. Hagibi would have settled just for Yael, but when the stork delivered three children instead of one, and two of them were boys, she was able to make use of the model's full name. Hagibi has a thick scrapbook that documents YBZ's career from the start.
  • AMONG THE many people who urged the government not to agree to a cease-fire without a guarantee that Hamas would return Gilad Schalit to his family was stage and screen personality Dudu Topaz. On his blog, Topaz not only urged the government not to sign any agreement that did not include Schalit, but also initiated a petition to this effect.
  • THAT AGE-old blessing-cum-curse "break a leg" almost became a reality for actress Chen Shiloni, whose foot got caught in a loose piece of scenery just before she went onstage. As a result, Shiloni broke one of her big toes and was in considerable pain. But in the tradition of "the show must go on," she went ahead with the performance and only at the conclusion of the show did she agree to see a doctor.
  • ANYONE WHO may have seen Zvika Pik in earnest conversation with Maya Buskila and her manager Alon Shimon in a Tel Aviv restaurant should know that they were discussing songs that Pik would be writing for Buskila for her new album, which she planned to release some time in the summer.
  • IF YOU'RE an actor or director who has invested in a business enterprise to supplement your income when there's no work on stage or screen, there's no reason not to be your own advertisement. Case in point: Actor and director Arnon Tzadok has opened a felafel bar in Tel Aviv that also sells traditional Yemenite delicacies. By posing behind the counter, Tzadok has created a double draw.
  • WITH EMPLOYMENT these days mostly characterized by a revolving door, it is becoming increasingly rare to find anyone who has worked at the same place for more than a decade. Among the exceptions is veteran radio and television personality Dr. Yitzhak Noy, who has delighted listeners of his overseas news program on Israel Radio's Reshet Bet. After 43 years in a variety of capacities on air, he has decided to call it quits. Although he will continue to present his Saturday morning review of the overseas media, he stopped broadcasting his regular midweek programs nearly three weeks ago. His fans are not happy because none of the broadcasters who have replaced him - with the possible exception of Oren Nahari - have infused the programs with the same degree of excitement. Noy has a wonderful facility for being able to talk to his listeners as if they were sitting beside him, showing enthusiasm or disgust over certain news items as though he were conducting a regular conversation. This, and his deep bass voice, earned him many faithful followers who were instrumental in keeping him on air more than a year ago when the IBA wanted to dismiss him to cut costs. There are several retirees working for a pittance at the IBA because their fans won't let them leave, among them Ya'acov Ahimeir, Shmuel Shai and Moshe Timor.