{"id":68030,"date":"2022-06-09T16:16:38","date_gmt":"2022-06-09T21:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=68030"},"modified":"2022-06-09T16:18:40","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T21:18:40","slug":"folk-band-big-thief-wont-play-in-members-native-israel-days-after-defending-concerts-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/folk-band-big-thief-wont-play-in-members-native-israel-days-after-defending-concerts-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Folk band Big Thief won\u2019t play in member\u2019s native Israel, days after defending concerts there"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By GABE FRIEDMAN<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 Days after defending their decision to play in Tel Aviv, the hometown of their bass player, the indie folk rock band Big Thief canceled two scheduled Israel shows, writing that they \u201coppose the illegal occupation and the systematic oppression of the Palestinian people.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_68031\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/6-9-22-bigthief-scaled.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-68031\" class=\"wp-image-68031 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/6-9-22-bigthief-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/6-9-22-bigthief-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/6-9-22-bigthief-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/6-9-22-bigthief-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/6-9-22-bigthief-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/6-9-22-bigthief-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-68031\" class=\"wp-image-68031 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/6-9-22-bigthief-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/6-9-22-bigthief-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/6-9-22-bigthief-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/6-9-22-bigthief-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/6-9-22-bigthief-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/6-9-22-bigthief-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-68031\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Max Oleartchik, left, who is Israeli, and Adrianne Lenker of Big Thief perform at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. (Kyle Gustafson for The Washington Post via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Last week, the Grammy-nominated band had announced two shows at Tel Aviv\u2019s Barby venue in July, and said that they would donate the gig profits to NGOs that aid Palestinian children. They also noted that they wanted to explore bassist Max Oleartchik\u2019s hometown, and said that they were unsure of their thoughts on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, the international movement to boycott Israel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are well aware of the cultural aspect of the BDS movement and the desperate reality of the Palestinian people,\u201d the band wrote at the time. \u201cIn terms of where we fit into the boycott, we don\u2019t claim to know where the moral high ground lies and we want to remain open to other people\u2019s perspectives and to love beyond disagreement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Their opinions had changed by Thursday, when the band released a new statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince announcing these shows in Israel we have been in constant dialogue with friends, family, BDS supporters and allies, Palestinians, and Israeli citizens who are committed to the fight for justice for Palestinians,\u201d the band wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur intent in wanting to play the shows in Tel Aviv, where Max was born, raised, and currently lives, stemmed from a simple belief that music can heal. We now recognize that the shows we booked do not honor that sentiment. We are sorry to those we hurt with the recklessness and naivete of our original statement on playing in Israel and we hope those who were planning to attend the shows understand our choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We will be canceling our 2 shows in Tel Aviv. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ocSFtgnYz4\">pic.twitter.com\/ocSFtgnYz4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Big Thief (@bigthiefmusic) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bigthiefmusic\/status\/1534876157266493445?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 9, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Barby venue posted an angry message to social media in response on Thursday, calling the band \u201cspineless\u201d and saying Big Thief had reached out to schedule the shows, not vice versa. The venue also accused the band of \u201chypocrisy,\u201d and of bowing to pressure from \u201cpaid protesters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBDS has been with us for 20 years, it has not changed since the last time they were in the country,\u201d the venue wrote in Hebrew on Facebook. \u201cThe insults on Instagram, just made you fold \/ scared. Some paid protesters outside the hall in Europe made your managers kneel, \u2018and the solution\u2019 \u2013 let\u2019s skip Israel, let\u2019s give up our audience, where it\u2019s less important.\u201d<br \/>\nThe venue continued: \u201cIn fact, your cancellation only made me sad for you, a bunch of poor, spineless musicians who are afraid of their own shadow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Max Oleartchik is the son of Alon Oleartchik, one of Israel\u2019s most well-known musicians, who rose to prominence with the 1970s rock band Kavaret and has since released more than 10 solo albums in different genres.<\/p>\n<p>Big Thief, which formed in 2015 in Brooklyn, released its fifth album to continued critical acclaim earlier this year. The band was nominated for multiple awards at the 2020 Grammys but did not win.<\/p>\n<p>The band had previously long opposed the BDS movement. Journalist Omar Sakr wrote on Monday that singer Adrienne Lenker had told him so unprompted in an interview a few years earlier, and that afterward the band\u2019s publicist killed his article.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[H]alfway through the interview with the singer, she blurts out that they play in Israel, because one of their band members is from there, and how they don\u2019t agree with BDS,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Folk%20band%20Big%20Thief%20won%E2%80%99t%20play%20in%20member%E2%80%99s%20native%20Israel%2C%20days%20after%20defending%20concerts%20there\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":68031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,7137],"tags":[12347,8781,8790,8795,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68030"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68030"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68032,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68030\/revisions\/68032"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}