Category Archive » Interviews

He’s on the cover of the most popular international travel guide Spartacus, His Face… and bod… are all over the renowned “Arisa” Videos, and he is part owner of the new Gay Travel web phenomenon Gay-Ville.com, his name is Eliad Cohen, and in addition to making it to the front covers of several international Gay Magazines… he’s also a very proud Israeli.

Who is Eilad Cohen ?

Eliad Cohen (born May 11, 1988) is an Israeli producer, actor, model, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Gay-ville. He is best known for his role as presenter of the Arisa party line and also for being chosen as the cover of the Spartacus International Gay Guide for the 2011-2012 issue. Eliad was born on May 11, 1988 in Akko, Israel. After completing high school, Eliad served in the Israel Defense Forces in an elite combat unit for three years. After completing his army service, Eliad moved to Tel Aviv where he began his modeling career. Eliad is openly gay

You describe yourself as a Producer, Actor, Model and Entrepreneur. Which one is your favourite ?

My favourite role is being an Entrepreneur. It’s exciting. It’s constantly changing and your achievements are based on how much effort you have put in.
Each day is totally different from the other. I learn a lot, and I see my future as a busisnessman.
My business partners and I created something from scratch, and it gives me great fullfillment to see it grow.

Do you feel it’s important to promote Israel abroad? If so, why ?

I feel it is very important to show the world how Israel is a very liberal and modern country.
Many tourists who come here for the first time are totally shocked with what they see, in comparison to what they expect.
Tel Aviv is one of the gayest cities in the world. Two guys walking hand in hand is not something out of the ordinary. When I travel around the world, I get a lot of positive feedbacks from people who have visited Tel Aviv, and frompeople who heard about it from their friends.
On the other hand, there are still people who see Israel only in the media and all they see are negative reviews. Some of them think that instead of taxis you ride on camels.

What was your reaction when you were chosen to be on the cover of Sparacus ?

When spartacus approached me I was new in Tel Aviv and I did not know who they were. Once someone explained to me that they are most popular gay guide in the world, I got very excited. I was proud that the chai symbol, which I have on my necklace and is a Jewish symbol, was on the cover of an international gay guide. I got many supportive messages from people around the world.

You have many videos promoting a party called “Arisa” tell us about it

Arisa is the first oriental music party for gay people. We made the first video on January 2011, and it was a huge success all over the world.
After we understood that the video is popular, we made other videos with more actors, dancers and with famous Israeli singers.
I think the success of the Arisa videos is that they are short, funny and sexy.

The Arisa Party line travelled to Brazil… what was the reaction of the crowd?

At the first show in Sao paulo, we did not know what to expect from the Brazilian crowd. How would thye react to the oriental music? We were amazed to see 1500 brazilians at the party singing our songs together with us. Click here to watch

You’ve recently started a website called “Gay-Ville.com” What exactly is it ?

Gay-ville is a website which helps gay traveler, by renting their own apartments to other gay people when they’re out of town.

My friends and I travel all the time, and we were always trying to figure out how we could travel even more. We also noticed that many of our friends were looking for the same things when they travel. We all go to large gay-friendly cities around the world — Berlin, Madrid, Tel Aviv, NY, Rio — and in these cities we want to stay in the gay neighborhood. We want to feel free to do what we like — we want a gay-friendly environment where we can be ourselves. We want to meet lots of people, have a great time and share our travel experience together. We don’t need to spend $500 a night on a fancy hotel to have a good time. What for? Many times we travel in groups of friends and if we can share an apartment for half the price and stay twice as long it’s much better. So, whenever we travel we are always looking for a local to show us around and tell us about the hot spots.

What we realized is that everyone wanted the same thing. And, that that there was no other site dedicated to providing this service.

So we came up with Gay-ville. On our site you can plan start your whole gay travel experience. We’ll tell you what’s happening in each city, find an apartment or room in a gay area, allow you to rent out your own apartment while you are away to subsidize your trip (so your apartment pays your trip – this way you can travel more!) and give you a safe and friendly way to connect to locals and other travelers just like you.

Check out one of Gay-Ville’s ads…

And of course, does Size Matter ? (In relation to Israel size of course)

I don’t think so…

She’s talented, full of soul, a Montrealer living in Israel and a contestant on THE VOICE… need I say more ? Her audition turned seats, literally, and all 4 of them (check it out by clicking here) we caught up with Kathleen to give you a better sense of the girl behind that amazing, powerful voice…

Who is Kathleen Reiter ?
I am 23years old, born and raised in Montreal and I’ve recently decided to make aliyah

Have you always wanted to Sing ?
Yes, i think its the only thing I’ve ever been sure of in my life. It’s always been my passion.

What would you say your singing style is ?
I would say my singing style is Soul definitely.

Which artists would you say influenced you most ?
Obviously I am a huge Adele fan, so she’s had alot of influence on me for sure.
I’ve grown up listening to Michael Jackson so he’s definitely been a huge part of my musical influences.
I also write and so bands like Kings of Leon and Mumford and Sons are huge influences on me as well.

How does a Montrealer make it on The Voice Israel ?
Funny story! Ever since I was very young I would spend almost every summer here in Israel with my family. I had decided over this last trip that I would stay in Israel and I found out about the auditions around the same time. I was like fate! I knew about the show and it’s format and i Ioved it so I just had to audition.

Adele was your choice for the audition… will we hear you sing in Hebrew?
Im so happy that I’ve made it into Sarit Hadad’s group. It very importants for me to show people that I can sing in hebrew and that I want to sing in hebrew. I certainly hope that I do get that opportunity sing in hebrew!

You were crowned ‘Jewish Idol’ in Montreal in 2004, tell us about that
What can I say, I was 15 years old and I got the chance to sing at the Spectrum in front of 1000 people! I was living out my dream!!! I think i will always hold a special place in my heart for the Centre Hillel because they really helped me push my career forward and have always really been supportive. It was an amazing opportunity and I have only great memories from it!

Do you see any similarities between Montreal and Tel Aviv ?
Yeah I do, I think that’s why I love this city so much! Its vibrant and has an amazing nightlife just like Montreal! I’m still in the process of discovering Tel Aviv but so far I’m in love!

Any favorite spots?
Yeah sure there’s a place called Haezor, its probably the coolest bar I’ve ever been to! It has the most amazing ambiance and live musicians and you can just go up and Jam with them it’s amazing!

Her latest performance on the voice!

Kathleen’s Performance @ Centre Hillel’s Jewish Idol (2004)

Photo: Ziv Sade

It’s tolerant and it doesn’t sleep, there is a reason behind the amazingness and creative force that we call Tel Aviv and that is individuals like Anat Nir. She parties/plays and lays the rules that have changed the way women do business in the city, she is kind of amazing! Check out what she had to say!

Who is Anat Nir ?

I am a social entrepreneur and publicist in Israel’s LGBT community for the past 13 years. At the age of 21 I opened “Makom”, one of the very first lesbian bars in Tel Aviv. Along with my business partner, Dana Ziv, under the brand “Dana ve Anat”, I organized numerous amount of lesbian events, becoming one of the leading and influential characters of Tel Aviv’s LGBT cultural sphere. Notwithstanding my growing business in the LGBT community, I became chief marketing officer of the “Feminanci” college, a unique academy aiming to financially empower women in the changing economy and advance equality between genders. I was nominated as co-director of the Tel Aviv Gay Vibe, a tourism campaign sponsored by Tel Aviv Municipality and the Ministry of Tourism. This international project includes global advertisement and international event production.

You are some sort of Party Queen, how long have you planned parties ?

A party queen sounds dazzling. I’ll go for it. If so, I hold this crown for 11 years now.

The level of products involved in Party promotion in Israel is impressive (Video Ads etc…) is it hard to up each initiative ?

The level of production and party promotion in Israel is very high. There are creative, fabulous, talented, professional, experienced, happy people within the party scene here who are a motivating force and an inspiration to me. My business partner, Dana Ziv and I love to reinvent ourselves. learn. develop.

Here are some video ads of ours that I like best: SHE.J, Lethal Lesbian film festival, Sex Manifesto

Tel Aviv Nightlife is becoming bigger and bigger, what do you think is so special about TLV ?

The motto of Tel Aviv is “the city that never sleeps”, that explains a lot. Add the sun, an urban city on the Mediterranean sea, and the beautiful people and there you have it. I also believe that since life in this region is complicated that’s exactly when and the need to express and create grows.

You are very involved with Tel Aviv Gay Vibe, tell us about your involvement and the goals of the initiative

Tel Aviv Gay Vibe is a campaign we started 3 years ago, promoting LGBT tourism to Tel Aviv. I co-direct the project. The goal is simple – exposing the world to our wonderful gay city. In 2012 we aim to promote more lesbian tourism to Tel Aviv so that we have planned the year with many lesbian focused activities. We just got back from a European tour, 4 women parties in 5 days in which we took part with our DJ, video art, and information stand.

Tel Aviv Vibe on Facebook

Tel Aviv Vibe Website

How would you describe Lesbian life in Israel? Is the nightlife comparable to other major cities?

In most communities and gay cities the lesbians are far behind the gay men. You have to develop detective-like skills to find activities, culture, and nightlife. In Tel Aviv you have the Tel Aviv Gay Vibe application free for download which lets you know of all the LGBT events available each and every day in the city.

Women have amazing activities all week long and parties during the weekend. After being around the world in many gay cities I can certainly say that Tel Aviv is a lesbian heaven! It is easy to walk, the weather is warm, the beach runs from north to south, we have a large, diverse lesbian community and beautiful women all over the city. And of course, the women parties are known to be from the best in the world.

I’ve recently read about a women only party with 14 women Israeli Djs, that sounds awesome, tell us about it.

Back in 2002 Dana and I started an event called SHE.J, exposing and promoting women DJs. We thought (and still think) that it’s a field of work in which women are not equal to men. We wanted to support amazing professional DJs in their way to success. And indeed many DJs who started their way with us are today leading the scene and after a decade of work there is no major party line in Tel Aviv that doesn’t have at least one female resident DJ. This party is growing from year to year and we love it at least as much as the crowd does.

Tel Aviv was recently named the top city of 2011 by Gaycities, you must be proud, what was your reaction ?

YES! After 3 years of hard work, international travels and promotion we finally did it. Tel Aviv is on the map. This news has got into every major communications chanel here and we are very proud. of course this means that this year is going to be full of LGBT incoming tourism which is our aim. Small city huge impact.

If you are lazy and didn’t click the links to the videos…Watch them here…

There is something amazing about the level of creativity in Israel. I came across this video last week and thought it was amazing, we contacted Lilach Chen form Holon (AKA The person with the dancing fingers) Here is a little insight…

Who is Lilach Chen?

I’m 24 years old from Holon. Right now I’m studying video editing and post-production at the open university.

How did you get into “Fingers Breakdance” ?

Long time ago… (when I was 16) I was actually breakdancing. One day I tried the breakdance moves with my fingers and it looked really funny. So my sister and I decided to make a short video.
About a year or two later we found out about youtube and uploaded this video which became very popular.

What Size shoes are your fingers? 

Size of shoes… I don’t know exactly but they were part of a keychain.

You did a commercial for Sony, tell us about that…

2 years ago, I was invited to Prague to film a It was a Sony Ericsson commercialTV ad for the Xperia x10 mini touch-screen cellphone. The idea was finger-dancing on the screen. The Dance was a collaboration between me and their choreographer. It was a really fun project. ( check it out )

Your Youtube channel has almost 24 million hits, that’s amazing! Did you expect that kind of exposure? 

I didn’t expect it at all. We got amazing exposure. When I uploaded my first video it was the first year of youtube. So the whole “Youtube stars” phenomenon hasnt’t started yet. I’m still surprised by the popularity of the idea.
By the way now I’m above 24 million hits.

Besides finger breakdancing, is Breakdancing big in Israel ?

Yes! Breakdancing became very popular in Israel along the years. There are always events and big competitions.

You filmed in various cities around the world, any favorites? 

I filmed in Mumbai, Istanbul twice, London and Prague. (I get request from many other cities which I film at home). My favorite city was Prague.

And of course, does Size matters ? 

Size does matter! It’s not only tiny shoes it’s also tiny background and tiny accessories that I create. For example the bed and the speakers from “fingers breakdance 5″.

Check out her Youtube Channel for more videos

She’s a beauty, an Israeli comedian, actress and singer. She played Yael Hoffman on Weeds and Abby in the play Stitching. She’s recently extended her presence to the Music industry, with her famous track “Yummy Boyz” which she recently performed in Hollywood with famous DJ Hector Fonseca (Watch here). Meital has been named one of SDM’s hottest Israeli ladies of 2011 (Check out the list here) She is one hot Israeli export! That is why you need to read the following interview…

Who is Meital Dohan, what would you want people to know about you ?

You’d have to ask my pet tiger if you really wanted the true scoop about me. I’m a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Sugar and spice , a little bit feisty, and a little bit nice. But behind all that spiciness, I believe in real emotions: laughing, loving, and connecting with each other. I want to give the world some hope for some real principles and I hope to inspire people to connect to their own roots and respect one another.

You started out in TV, and now Music? Why the switch, were you always a singer ?

It’s not a switch. I’m still acting. I just see music as another extension of myself.  Another channel of expression. It happened organically so I just went with it and I’m happy I did!

Before you tell us about your music, a little something about your experience on one of my favourite show, WEEDS!

Weeds was a total blast to work on! I mean, you’re pretty lucky if you get to spend your day on camera with Justin Kirk and a strap on. The whole cast and the creators of the show are just a really great, unique team.

How would you describe your music ?

The pop tracks are the kind of music you can’t help but get off your ass and dance to. The kind of music that gets stuck in your head. You’ll be singing and dancing to it in your sleep. The other tracks are a little more laid back with lounge type of vibe. You know, the kind of song you’d put on at the end of a hot date. Oh and laughing too, because it’s also funny

Who are some of the artist that have influenced your music ?

There are so many…I really like Serge Gainsborg, Bjork, PJ Harvey, Madonna, Aphex Twin, Prodigy, LMFAO, Ali G, and so on… They are the kind of artists and performers who offer people the kind of experience I want to give people when they are watching me or listening to my music. I want people to laugh – dance and like what they see!

Where is your favorite place to play ?

I like the bath tub. I like my pool. Now I seem like I have a water fetish. St. Barts is probably my favorite place to just find solitude and total internal peace.  If I could play anywhere, why not do it in the most beautiful of places?

Does being Israeli influence your music ? How are you received internationally ?

Israel is in my blood so of course it informs who I am and what I think about. But I don’t think my music is particularly Israeli or American. I’m not trying to embody a country, I’d rather embody fun. That’s what it’s about. Internationally I have a large fanbase because I think Europeans are really open to provocative content and I’ve never been one to shy away from such a thing.

What is your favorite city in Israel ? why ? do yo have any spots you’d recommend ? (restaurants, cafes, clubs etc…)

Tel Aviv is an amazing city. You can walk or bike it. There’s the beach. Every club serves dinner. You’ll run into everyone you know in a 24 hour time period, weather you’d like to or not! Israel is an amazing small country. It combines spirituality, happiness, courage, and an in-your-face approach to honesty.

Does Size Matter ?

Size definitely matters! Size of your brain. Size of your heart. Size of your closet. Oh, and Shoe Size. Those are the sizes that really matter. When it comes to Israel though its small in size, but a lot of big things have and continue to come out of it!

 You can check out Meital on her Website, Facebook , Twitter and Youtube

After reading about a party in Tel Aviv that will host 14 Female Israeli DJs… I had to ask and bring you a profile of one of them… MEET DJ ADI DGANI…

Who is Adi Dgani, what would you want people to know about yourself ?

I’m 31, music’s been my life since I was a baby, been making mix tapes since I was 5 (really!), and always had jobs that were connected to the music scene, been Djing for the last 3 years, specializing in pop music,I’ve always been a pure pop girl, and when I say pop I mean pure trashy dancy happy pop!!|

How would you describe your music ? 

So the music I mostly play is pop music, and mostly new. I think that pop music in the last 2 years has become more intelligent yet still hasn’t lost the ‘fun’ and sweet side of it.

Who are some of the artists/DJs that have influenced your music ?

I don’t make music, I play it! I help people feel like they are the pop stars they always dreamed of being – on the dance floor.

Where is your favourite place to play ?

I don’t have a favorite place to play, I love playing anywhere and to everyone, wether it’s a 10 people gig or a 1000 people gig, you can be sure they will all be smiling

Does being Israeli influence the type of music you produce ? how so ?

Being Israeli does not influence the music I play, though I must say that the Israeli Genre that is called here “Authentic” is the most uplifting genre there is, it has no age,culture or gender – everybody loves it and will dance their asses off!
However, music has no color, gender or race.

Have you played outside of Israel ? if so, how are you received internationally ?

Haven’t played outside of Israel yet, but I can’t wait!!

Would you consider Tel Aviv to be a top party destination ?

Tel Aviv is a crazy city, I’ve been around the works and I can safely say that Tel Aviv is the best city to party at, if you think that the spanish people are LOCA, you probably haven’t been to TA!

I’ve recently read about a party that will host 14 Israeli Female DJs, what’s that about ? 

There’s a party on the 14th of January, it’s a women only party and it has 14 amazing female Dj’s on it’s line-up, this party happens once a year and this year it’s the 10th anniversary, the whole idea behind the party is of course – GIRL POWER and basically to show  who runs the world? GIRLS!!! The wonderful women behind this party are Anat Nir and Dana Ziv, aka Dana Ve Anat and they produce a lot of the women parties in Tel Aviv.

Us girls, we do it better
Come visit Tel Aviv, you’ll never wanna leave.

Check out DJ Adi on Facebook by clicking here

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