And the Lord said unto them...

"All thine applause shall degrade into synchronized quarter note clapping". I went to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra tonight to see Lang Lang, a Chinese pianist performing Tchaikovsky. At the end of the performance people were clapping and giving standing ovations... and they wouldn't stop. It eventually degraded into synchronized applause, and he gave an encore performance. Then people were clapping and giving standing ovations... and again they wouldn't stop. Again it degraded into synchronized applause, and Lang Lang gave ANOTHER encore performance.

I think this is the first time I've seen a professional guest soloist give two encores like that. Absolutely amazing. Makes me wish I hadn't fallen asleep during part of the performance, but I couldn't help it. I was sitting up next to the soundboard and I was jetlagged. I think I only missed about 10 or 15 minutes though.

Supposedly tomorrow night we're going to a belly-dancing dinner show. The wife of one of my hosts here has a best friend who is a professional belly dancer and she says this is one of the best places in town, so there you go. If you can't trust the best friend you've never met of a wife of one of the colleagues you just met, who can you trust?