Middle East Adventure
Shalom friends and fans and…that other 30% of you who hate my guts but follow me on social networking sites regardless.
This is my personal announcement for the next Justin/Jerry documentary adventure, leaving NYC November first…we are headed to Lebanon-Jordan and Israel, and I am pretty fucking excited. Through a lot of peoples hard work and financial backing… we have grabbed at the opportunity presented ..and are continuing our music and film combo. There will be a lot more details to follow…but I wanted to get this out there immediately…
We will be in Beirut November 3 through the 7th, then hopefully Amman Jordan the night of the 7th, and then the 8th through 18th touring Israel.
At this writing the the musicians will include myself, Steven Gary Drizos, and Michael Lewis… plus the usual and unusual hooligans …others are threatening to attend…the Israeli portion is being handled by my good friend Jonathan Schwartz …and our ‘Julie McCoy” Michele Weitzen is dealing with the rest as she has actually traveled professionally in Lebanon and Jordan…. Justin and I have been making it our mission to present my music in arenas that are a little less obvious than the norm and considerably less comfortable than our peers insistence on bringing their friends to another all inclusive resort setting… mostly because we are ourselves curious. We like to travel…Justin likes to eat bugs and sheep offal…and judging from Nicaragua and Southeast Asia there are moments that simply cannot be scripted….and you know…it’s bitchin.
” WTF!!! Why Lebanon?” you may be saying…well…for one, I am Lebanese on my fathers side…he was the only Joseph of his generaton to visit…and I would like to follow his example…for two…because its supposed to be frikken awesome …though how I am getting a bus load of jewish JJJ fans up the Bekkah Valley remains to be seen…and for three…its an important piece of our geopolitical history [and possibly future] and i would like to see it.
“WTF…Israel?…I thought you were American Taliban?”…you may be saying…pretty much ditto on the Lebanese reasons above [barring the family angle]. I have a lot of Israeli friends… I have traveled in weird parts of the world with Israelis and…you know…it’s where gods from…it’s at the top of my list.
It’s a simple plan…play music and film it…eat a lot of lamb and chickpeas…try not to go to jail…come home for thanksgiving.
A couple points…
1. Though we hope to announce the Israeli show dates shortly… as for Lebanon…they are technically at war with Israel… it’s still unclear as to the Lebanese rules regarding working in Israel…we are sorting it out…however…some chance the only way to actually see these shows [Beirut] will be to be there and follow me on twitter/facebook…assuming one can tweet in Lebanon.
If not twitter/facebook, we will make sure the www.jerryjoseph.com site and yahoogroup is updated regularly for those days.
2. Yes…there’s a war going on next door in Syria…and Shia-Sunni reprisal killings have begun in the north…um…i am a Maronite Catholic..and everyone hates us…I am also an American so…same same …however barring an airport closure I plan on going….
3. It’s an election year…I am 100% Obama in this race…but the US being the US… bombing Iran is not out of the question…that would be a game changer…for Israel shows as well.
4. This is not a Jackmormon tour…we will mostly be playing acoustic …the Jmos would have been cool, but it is what it is…and its going to be a once in a lifetime trip…though I must say we are missing an incredible opportunity in merch sales…JJJ yamikahs et al.
5. This is an excellent chance for you, our Jewish fans, to make good on your promise to your parents that you would make the pilgrimage.
6. We hope you come…it will be incredible…please remember…we want you to actually see the countries. This is not a organized package tour with name tags. You show up…we don’t drive you…refill your coozie…give you drugs…or bail you out of jail. Well…perhaps we are good for bail…but it better be an awesome story. Really…if you come…we learn together…it will be amazing or better yet…have you got our bail money? I think a “get Jerry out of beirut prison” Kickstart Campaign would be a tad embarrassing.
7. If you have any connections…in Israel, Lebanon, Jordan…places we should play, people we should meet, please let us know!
8. You cannot enter Lebanon with an Israeli stamp in your passport…hence Beirut first.
9. We strongly advise if you’re going to the Lebanese portion of the trip to get in touch with us so we can share info.
10. The point is to learn and make friends and play music for people…politics can wait until after we’ve seen it …and… you know…we learn more.
OK…that’s it for now…this will be cool…I feel so lucky to have the friends I have who make this stuff happen…I feel secure my wife will one day forgive me…and it’s going to be a fucking cool movie…stay tuned to jerryjoseph.com or facebook or twitter for details as they manifest themselves…and go buy your tickets now!
Or read the blog…but come on…election day in Beirut…how much more wacky fun could you hope for…
Salam alah kum…
shalom
jerry
