Meet Ziv Shalev, Musician

Ziv Shalev is a guitarist, composer, producer, and educator from Israel who has lived in New York City for the past 10 years. He has been working for the music production company, Studio Pros, and he has also shared the stage with a variety of top artists from America and Israel. You can learn more about him and hear samples of his work at http://www.zivshalev.com.

1. When did you know that you wanted to pursue a career as a musician?

When I was ten years old, my older brother started a band, and I was watching them rehearsing. I was fascinated by the sound and looks of the guitar. It all started then.

2. You are skilled in playing diverse genres of music. Do you have a favorite genre?

My true passion is rock. Playing with a national act--Spread Eagle--while touring across the country was a dream come true.

3. How do you find inspiration as a composer?

The inspiration to write music comes to me, and I just let it be. Love is very inspiring.

4. For young musicians who are looking to build a career as a full-time musician, what's your advice based on your own experience?

Building a good foundation is the most important thing. It's all about persistence and elbow grease. While it may seem like nothing is moving along, when you work hard every day, every day is a step toward success.

Thanks, Ziv!

Meet Ariel de Lion, Artist, Musician, and Entrepreneur

Ariel de Lion is an Israeli-American, Brooklyn based Artist, Musician, and Entrepreneur. As a conceptualist, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, Ariel has led several musical and art projects most known by DE///LION, Punk hapoalim, Casino Ayalon, She Lion, and Hostel Ayalon. Best known for his multidisciplinary approach, he is also the creative force and founder of the start-up company and Brooklyn Art collective, Music Wagon. You may also know Ariel as the founder of the Lower East Side radio station, LES.FM at the Ludlow Studio and The founder of Hostel Ayalon, non-for-profit venue in Tel Aviv, Israel.

1. When did you first start playing music--what was the first instrument you learned?

8 years old, guitar and singing. I was awful and lazy, but I got better as the years went by. At year 11, I had my first band with Erez Moshe. It was a punk band, and we rocked the school holiday event, and everybody was terrified. The song was about a whore named Zippy and none of the words made any sense, but me and Erez convinced Assaf Efraim Weisman, a fat kid that was always shy, to come up and sing--he asked "but what should I do," and we told him just scream the words when we tell you. Assaf was standing with his back to the people, and once I gave him the key, he screamed so hard that it was terrifying, better than anything we could possibly imagine to the point that, me and Erez couldn't stop laughing in the show--it was painfully funny but yet so good! All the older kids in school where like, these young kids know how to Rock!

2. What does it mean to you to describe your work as conceptual?

It's a big word, but it doesn't mean anything but a fine way of saying weird. Besides being a musician, I am a writer, I curate weird events, and I'm always part of weird stuff. Calling it conceptualist is like calling a gardener a landscape architect.

3. How do you balance your time and your work between New York and Tel Aviv?

For the past 6 years, I have only been based in New York. In my 20s, I used to be all over the place, and I love Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, and Australia and what I've done there. But, I need the size of New York to focus and operate.

4. What are some projects you're working on right now?

Apart from She Lion, I am working now on a collection documentary and a record that will sum up the 2-3 years we lived in The Music Wagon StART up collective in Bushwick 2011-2013: 150 people, artists, DJ's, visionary preachers were living there along those 2 magical years and the Blue Bus. Emerging from the Lower East Side, The Living Theatre, LES.FM radio, the Ludlow studio, Mr. Bugsly present and the Rainbow gathering along with the House Of Yes across the street, Aldorado Afters with Burymeinbrooklyn under our shaking asses. I have so much material, and finally I got the time to work on something to remember, super excited. Gonna be super real s**t!

5. How do your strengths as an entrepreneur help you as a musician--would you tell us more about your work as an entrepreneur?

I was always interested with hosting--being modest, I am a great host. So it started with me having always the best houses, where all the kids hang, and later on it became venues with my bed somewhere under a guitar amp.

Then, in 2005 I opened my first real venue, Hostel Ayalon in Tel Aviv, a non-for-profit venue that hosts art events and music shows, and we recorded a bunch of albums there, too.

In 2011, I got offered to open a radio station in the lower east side at a mythologic rehearsal space from the 90s, where Blondie, David Bowie, and the Ramones used to practice. I opened there the LES.FM, the Lower East Side Radio, with the help of the neighborhood legends such as Clyton Paterson, Judith Malina, The Living theatre, John Zorn, The stone, Max Fish, Pink pony and Pianos. They were the main reason of the radio station's success. We gained 1000s of simultaneous listeners in three months.

But as usual in New York, they sold the building, and we all moved to our next entrepreneurship, The Music Wagon. The radio crew and the Living Theatre crew combined forces at a warehouse in Bushwick in 2012. We bought an old prison bus and converted it to a mobile radio station, and I went to Israel for several months to cut a deal with a development company that built for us an app for broadcasting, and we opened up a start-up art collective. In 2014, the start-up got nominated for the top 40 start-ups of the year by Tech Weak, sponsored by American Airlines.

These days we are working on a documentary, collection record that will sum up those magical 2-3 years, and we will have something to remember.

Thanks, Ariel!

Introducing Zivi Kivi, Magician and Balloon Artist

One of the pleasures of writing this blog is that I learn about people I would be unlikely to otherwise come into contact with. This week, I learned about Zivi Kivi, a magician and certified balloon artist who lives in Israel. Due to the current unrest in Israel, many children's events have been cancelled, particularly outdoor events because of fear of missiles. Zivi Kivi has made it his project to try to make children happy and has visited 30 villages so far to give free performances for children in shelters.

Describing the children and families that he has met and performed for recently, Zivi Kivi says, "I was privileged to entertain them and make them laugh."

Almost three months ago, he left his job as a project manager for a software company and started full-time as a magician. He has been teaching himself the ways of magic and balloon artistry for some years now, and he has won competitions with his balloon sculptures. Looking at the balloon art in the gallery on his website, I was impressed with the complexity of his work and how expressive it is. I almost expected some of his figures to begin speaking and moving like animated cartoon characters.

Here is someone with a passion for his art form--and a desire to bring joy to others during difficult times. It's a reminder of the value of creativity and personal artistic expression in a diversity of forms. Learn more about Zivi Kivi and his work on his website, zivikivi.co.il (which you can translate from Hebrew into English using Google translate if, like me, you don't read Hebrew).