Celebrity Grapevine

Although he is strongly opposed to the security fence, Pink Floyd star Roger Waters has not bowed to Palestinian pressure to cancel his upcoming concert in Israel

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
roger waters 88 298 (photo credit: )
roger waters 88 298
(photo credit: )
INTERNATIONALLY celebrated Israeli violinist Shlomo Mintz and veteran actress Orna Porat, one of the giants of the Israeli stage, will be among the recipients of honorary doctorates to be conferred on Tuesday at the 36th annual meeting of the Ben Gurion University Board of Governors. The BOG meeting will also be a fitting occasion to pay tribute to outgoing university president MK Prof. Avishay Braverman with a literary farewell moderated by Prof. Haim Be'er. Participants at the event on Tuesday will include Aharon Applefeld, Ori Bernstein, Tal Frenkel Alroy, Etgar Keret, Nidaa Khoury, Orit Meital, Amos Oz and Motti Perry. ALTHOUGH he is strongly opposed to the security fence, Pink Floyd star Roger Waters, one of the original founders of the British Rock group, has not bowed to Palestinian pressure to cancel his upcoming concert in Israel. In fact his voice has been heard on promos on Israel Radio. Israel Radio will broadcast his concert live. THE FAVORITE Israeli singer of US philanthropist Joey Low is Corrine Alal. It's a family thing. His wife and 9 year-old daughter who came to Israel to watch him receive a Fellowship from the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya last week, are also great fans of Alal's. Low, who helps sponsor the reality show The Ambassador, confessed to The Jerusalem Post that if he had been running the show, he would have given it more substance. When he brought the matter up to producers at Keshet, he was told that too much substance would detract from ratings. It was an argument he couldn't win. He was, however, excited about the batch of "ambassadors" who will not necessarily be appearing in future series of the show. During recent screenings of the show, there have been messages flashed on screen asking Israelis who plan to study abroad and want to promote Israel's cause, to get in touch with Low. Over a hundred students sent in CVs. Low whittled them down to 25 whom he interviewed at IDC towards the end of last week. Those going to America will not only be talking about Israel on campus, but will also get a chance to meet with members of Congress. At a later stage, Low hopes to arrange for the ambassadors studying at European universities to meet European parliamentarians. IT'S VERY difficult for actors to shrug off an image, particularly when their natural appearance fits that image. That's one of the challenges facing Pini Tabger who plays Nachi, the religious drama school student in the local telenovella Our Song. Tabger appeared last week in the first contest in the second series of Dancing with the Stars on Channel Two, and although he certainly displayed much more polish in bow tie and tails than in his jeans and sports shirt, it was hard to shake off his telenovella persona - so much so that one of the adjudicators advised him to get rid of his "Nachiness".