My friends who work at ad agencies know how much of a headache I am, and how unimpressed I am with most campaigns. I’ve managed to keep this blog free of press releases for the past 9 years, and only share and comment when I really like something, or really don’t.
The Johnnie Walker Keep Walking Lebanon campaign is one I am particularly fond of. It so happens that I was an intern at Leo Burnett Beirut when it was being made, so that made me appreciate it even more. I’m sure most of you in my age bracket and above remember that black and white ad with Bernard Khoury narrating, and images of his most infamous creations serving as a backdrop for his story, that quite frankly is perfect for a “keep walking” example.
I can’t believe that that ad was 10 years ago, an entire decade. This year, and over the past ten months, Johnnie Walker decided to give today’s university students and rising artists a chance to demonstrate their progressive ideas, and help them develop them in the run-up to the expo.
The Process
Architecture, interior design and fashion design were the disciplines targeted for the project. The idea was simple: what’s your interpretation of Keep Walking Lebanon?
Mentors were tapped to help develop each idea over the course of 4 months. Bernard Khoury, Azzi & Osta, Nada Debs, Wissam Smayra and Bechara Mouzannar helped the 14 teams selected from the initial 200 submissions.
The Expo
What started out as 200 submissions by university students from across Lebanon, ended up being 14 finalist projects that will be exhibited on February 7, 8, 9 at KED in Karantina.
The public will help choose the top 3 by voting when they visit the exhibit, and the 3 finalists will get a cash prize, apart from exhibiting their diverse projects. They also get internships with the pioneer mentors in each of their fields.
I heard rumors about a multi-room club somewhere near the auxiliary seaside road back in 2016, and have been poking my nose there ever since. On Friday, I got an exclusive first look and tour as the team behind The Ballroom Blitz Venue put the final touches before they officially open on Friday October 5, 2018.
The Space
The Ballroom as seen from the middle of the dancefloor
The Ballroom is the largest room and will host their main events. Patrons will walk through a curving tunnel-like corridor that connects the acoustically-separate rooms and areas in the venue.
The venue’s team want this room to be a contemporary version of a traditional ballroom: it has a stage, a massive dance floor and seating on both each side.
The space was designed with more than just electronic music in mind, with a 7-piece band easily accommodated on the elevated stage. There’s also a large balcony area on one side.
What I liked is that the tables aren’t the main fixture, and are instead pushed to the side and kept at a minimum to maximize the dance floor.
View from the balcony area
The Gold Room
This is already my favorite room. The entire space is built like a studio, with a room inside a room that’s completely insulated from the rest of the venue, a bonafide Hi-Fi club room where artists are encouraged to experiments, and the large LED screens are replaced with more organic lighting elements and the beautiful bare concrete columns.
The Gold Room
The Lobby will be the first stop in the club. The large bar and outdoor terrace open at around 10:30PM and stay open till the venue closes. Imported beers, whiskies, sake, signature cocktails and other not-your-average party drinks will be served. The Lobby is the place to socialize and take a breather, before going back through the 21dB-designed acoustic tunnels into The Ballroom or the The Gold Room.
The Concept
I can already imagine beautiful nights in each of the two main rooms at Ballroom Blitz. The club will open on Fridays only, which I think is great given the increasingly crowded Saturday night schedules in Beirut. It’s also refreshing to see someone getting into the music scene with their own thing, not just to supplant players already in the game.
Techno will have a sizable role to play, and I was ecstatic to know that they will soon host artists from the legendary Ostgut Ton (Berghain’s label). However, the club will focus on a variety of musical genres, and would more appropriately be called a musical venue, not just a club. Here’s a taste of what’ to come:
It opens this Friday. You can RSVP on Facebook here.
All three spaces are open to everyone at the club. As we have gotten used to with Ballroom Blitz nights, come with an open mind and expect to hear something new and artists experimenting beyond the usual sets you’d expect.
Facebook notified me today that I’ve been friends with Ziad Ghosn, one of B018’s legendary resident “decknicians” for 11 years today. That’s just a fraction of how long the subterranean bunker has been open though.
B018 is undoubtedly Beirut’s most iconic club. On so many occasions, fellow clubbers I meet in cities like Berlin, DC and Brooklyn, when they found out I’m from Lebanon, they inevitably ask about B018. Most heavyweight artists made their Beirut debut in the underground bunker in the Lebanese capital’s former quarantine area: Karantina.
Whether it’s the design, the concept or the music, b0 has captured the hearts and minds of generations of clubbers. It perfectly symbolizes what a club should be, especially a Techno-focused one: reviving an industrial, down-trodden part of an urban metropolis and breathing life back into it.
Karantina saw some horrible things throughout its history, and even in modern times, it’s largely been an industrial area with warehouses, slaughterhouses and granaries replacing refugee camps, residential areas and other non-industrial buildings that once stood there.
The design never shied away from the brutal history, with a bomb-shelter like venue with furniture that looks like stacked coffins when closed, that turn into comfortable couches when opened. Never pretending to ignore the bad memories, b0 sought to change them into something nicer today, creating new memories in a place most of us grew up driving by and never giving a second thought.
The End of an Era, but the Beginning of a Better One
With so many options to go out at night, even in the general vicinity of Karantina, it’s time for b018 to reinvent itself again. After two decades of massive influence on the culture, it’s time to rebuild, renovate and transform this Beirut icon.
Just for the record, B018 doesn’t mean “be over 18”, it’s actually the chalet number where the parties started back in the early 90s. Building B, chalet number 018. So, please stop working it BO, it’s B0.
This Friday, B018 as you know it will come to an end. It’s being redesigned by the original architect, Bernard Khoury, and will reopen later this year in its new format.
The new B018 will be joining forces with the growing uberhaus empire, with places like The Garten, Discotek and Uberhaus.
I promise I’ll share with you the new design, renders and plans as soon as I get my hands on them. Till then though, get ready for a fond farewell to a club that many of us have too many fond memories in to count.
B018, thank you for all the beautiful sunrises under the retractable roof. Can’t wait to see what’s in store for the next chapter!
During the First World War, half of the population in the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate starved to death. A blockade by the allies, coupled with the Ottoman policy of prioritizing crops and supplies for their troops, meant that vital supplies from the neighboring Bekaa stopped coming in. With the political and man-made causes already plenty, Nature sent a swarm of locusts which over the course of 3 months, annihilated everything edible that was still left.
For such a catastrophic event in Lebanon’s recent history, it seems most of us know nothing or very little about it. You might remember some details from History class if you did the Lebanese Baccalaureate in high school, but for most, it’s part of the collective amnesia Lebanese have about most of the 20th Century.
Monument Designed by Yazan Halwani
A century later, Lebanon will finally have a memorial for everyone who died in The Great Famine of 1915 to 1918. The project was spearheaded by USJ’s Professor Christian Taoutel and Lebanese writer Ramzi Toufic Salameh. It’s financed by Banque du Liban, Lebanon’s Central Bank.
The monument is a steel tree, with quotes by prominent Lebanese contemporaries of the famine, such as Gebran Khalil Gebran, Tawfik Yousef Awwad, Anbara Salam Al-Khalidi and others, being the leaves.
Yazan’s rationale behind this monument is that a century later, only our trees still bear witness to the tragedy that led to half of Mount Lebanon’s population starving to death.
The memorial and the plaza it lies at the center of will be officially inaugurated later this year. It’s on the Damascus Road in Beirut, right where the Civil War’s demarcation line was.
It’s important we never forget traumatic events in our past, and honor the memory of our ancestors who perished in this mix of man-made and natural disasters. I hope this monument makes sure that we stop ignoring our brutal past, and work to make sure something like this never happens again.
Überhaus is a name that was born in a Hamra hotel basement just a few years ago. Since then, the Beirut-based clubbing behemoth has added a plethora of nightlife delights in both Beirut, and the region. With The Gärten, Discotek and 808 under their belts, their newest project is überhaus at Sea Code, a beach club on the gorgeous northern coast of Egypt’s Alexandria.
The Venue
Nestled on the golden sands, the expansive beach club designed by Karl Karam (Archave Studio) includes a pool and access to the turquoise beach on the Mediterranean. Right next to the main venue, is a concrete base that holds the iconic Gärten dome, with an all-new visual set up.
Bedouin and Tale of Us
The opening will be on Thursday, and headlining the massive party are our dear friends and amazing producers Bedouin! Later on this season, Tale of Us will take over the decks under the dome.
Next season, überhaus will host weekly parties all summer long.
Beirut and Beyond
I’m incredibly proud to see homegrown talents grow and expand in the region. Following a massive party on the Greek island of Mykonos this summer, überhaus is now ready to launch its new Egyptian project. I’ll be going there soon to party in it myself, and I’ll let you know first hand how it goes. Friends and readers in Egypt, get ready!
The reason is that they didn’t expect Jad Khoury’s (aka Potato Nose) installation would generate this much of a buzz. Solidere is infamous for not only their land-grabbing of the Central District, and forcing the rightful owners out of their lands to build empty, expensive ghost-towns they thought Gulf rich folks would buy, they’re also extremely vain.
Solidere LOVE the attention, even for things they had nothing to do with, either financially or logistically. Anyone who ever wanted to shoot something in the Central District, knows that they charge you thousands of dollars for each hour, even though it’s a public space in our very own capital.
Why The Burj El Murr Installation Butthurt Them
The artist obviously had the necessary permits, given he was even allowed in to the former snipers’ nest which now has a Lebanese Army base the first few floors. As anyone who ever tried to go into such buildings, you’d know how hard that is. So, permits and permissions obviously aren’t the problem here.
The same artist painted the Holiday Inn hotel a few years back, and even though that one wasn’t as well-received as the Burj El Murr one, with a lot of people furious at what they felt “defaced” Beirut’s most famous war-time remnant right in the middle of Beirut’s fanciest resorts and hotels, he still was allowed to execute the huge mural. This indicates that this artist has always had the necessary permissions, given the Holiday Inn is also a Lebanese Army base on the first few levels.
Solidere wants credit for everything done in the plot of land they occupy in the Lebanese capital. If you want to organize something there, without making money from it, you just need to slap their logo on it, and you’re good to go. If you’re making money from it, then the process is obviously much more difficult.
It seems that even though Solidere didn’t object to the artwork, and waited many days before they did, indicates that they were upset the artist didn’t mention them as a sponsor or organizer, even though they had absolutely nothing to do with it. This explains their tight-lipped responses to the media, and why their “cease and desist” letter to the artist had no specific reason, just “safety reasons”. It also explains why they waited this long, and sent mixed signals, before sticking to their guns at the end.
Now, unless curtains can murder someone if they fall on your head, I don’t see where the risk is. As for the risk to the artist, the concern should have been preemptive, not asking him to scale the entire dangerous building again for no reason but their vanity and pettiness.
Where’s the Government?
It seems Solidere is more powerful than the Municipality of Beirut and the Ministry of Culture. All of these governmental bodies and institutions gave their blessings, and expressed their support for the art installation even. But, as usual, private evil corporations seem to be more powerful than the government’s local and national authorities.
Shameful. Too bad we’re back to that heinous dildo from the Civil War days…Here’s hoping Solidere will figure out how to make money from it and turn it into something useful, or at least pleasant to look at.
Till then, let’s all make sure everyone sees this artwork, and knows Solidere stopped it.
Hona Beirut comes after the huge success of MARCH’s Kahwetna in Tripoli. What started as a cafe staffed and run by former fighters in Beb El Tebenneh and Jabal Mohsen, quickly grew into a cultural hub that houses not only a cafe, but a recording studion, a cinema/theater and dozens of capacity building classes, events, exhibitions and performances.
In Beirut, MARCH felt that the need for public, safe green spaces was dire, which is why after months of scouting, our team found a disused plot of land owned by the Municipality of Beirut, just across from Horsh Beirut. After removing all the rubble and old cars and motorcycles, MARCH set out to install its prefabricated structure, as well as plant the surrounding outdoor space. This is the gorgeous final result:
Hona Beirut
The Grand Opening THIS Saturday
This Saturday, we have a jam-packed lineup at Hona Beirut, and we can’t wait to have you there! You can RSVP on Facebook here.
Several bands, rappers, circus performers and DJs will make sure you have an amazing time, with several of the acts on the roster debuting in MARCH’s many projects in Akkar and Tripoli.
Hona Beirut will be run and staffed by young men and women from Beirut’s most marginalized neighborhoods, such as Tarik Jdideh and Khandak El Ghamiq and more. The cafe comes with an adjacent recording studio, where nascent talents who live in our beloved capital can come, create and record their music, free of charge!
Apart form that, Hona Beirut will have many classes offered, such as language courses, computer skills, graphic design, photography musical composing, songwriting, choreography and much, much more.
Most importantly though, Hona Beirut will be a safe space where the city’s youth can come and hang out and have a good time. It will create stable jobs, and help the young men and women who frequent it build up their CVs and skills to get the jobs they seek.
Lastly, Hona Beirut transformed a plot of land that was used as a dump, into a beautiful green space that is accessible to everyone every day, unlike most parks in Beirut which are off-limits for most of us!
If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know I’m spending this weekend in Turkey’s Izmir province, with Middle East Airlines (MEA) for their yearly networking event.
The second we got to the delightful Swiss Hotel Izmir, a stone’s throw away from the Aegean Sea, MEA chairman Mohamad El Hout revealed to us several bombshell announcements about MEA’s fleet and headquarters.
MEA will purchase 15 new airplanes between 2019 and 2021
11 of the airplanes will be Airbus A321, and the other 4 will be the “wide-body” variants
All MEA planes will be equipped with WiFi
MEA will now fly directly to Madrid3 times a week starting June 16, 2018 (Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays) at takeoff and landing times that would be perfect for La Liga fans who want to jet off to watch a game.
Apart from that, MEA will expand its headquarters even further in the area surrounding its recently inaugurated training center. Massive 150x95m hangars will be constructed for maintenance purposes, a green office building and more. You can check out how the MEA campus will look like by 2021 below.
Source: MEA Chairman Mohamad El Hout, Izmir 2018
The Airport Expansion
Being delighted with news of expanding the MEA fleet and getting its passengers connected at cruising altitude, I had loads of questions about the planned expansion for the Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport.
The current capacity of our international airport is around 6 million passengers a year, but in 2017 more than 8.3 million passengers made their way through it.
This has prompted Public Works Minister Youssef Fenianos to begin “urgent expansion” of the airport, allowing it to handle 2 million extra passengers within the next 9 to 12 months. By 2030, the airport is scheduled to welcome 20 million passengers.
Now, after a lot of digging, I was finally able to get the renders of what the Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport will look like, courtesy of MEA and Lebanon’s Public Works minister Youssef Fenianos.
So, I present to you the renders made by Dar Al-Handasah, who won the contract to design the expanded Beirut Rafic Hairir International Airport. You guys are the first to see this outside Dar, the ministry and MEA!
As you can see, the first phase will be adjacent to the seaside runway, and the second phase of the expansion will be on the opposite side flanked by Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The expansions will include additional baggage conveyor belts, inspection stations, power generators, flight docking systems and cooling systems.
Stay tuned for more, I will be following MEA’s fleet expansion, as well as Beirut’s airport expansion over the coming weeks and months.
PPP Plans
Below are screenshots I took from a presentation given by Dr.Omar Kaddouha, Director of Flight Safety at The Lebanese Directorate General of Civil Aviation on March 6, 2018. It was part of a session titled “Showcasing of PPP-Candidate Infrastructure Projects” at the Four Seasons in Beirut last month.
The presentation highlights that the project’s construction and financing will be handled by the private sector, signaling a good example of a PPP project (Public-Private-Partnership).
The government’s job is to manage the project, and make sure the tenders are transparent and have the taxpayers’ best interest heart. It’s also their job to attract financing from the right private sector entities.
The private sector will finance, build, operate and maintain the new terminals (and maybe the entire airport).
Personally, I’m glad this estimated 500 million USD project will not be funded from taxpayer money. I also hope that the private sector being a partner, means more diversity in what’s offered in Beirut’s terminals that doesn’t immediately have to do with airplanes and flight (food, shopping, etc.)
As for where the 20 million passengers will come from, the region is seeing a steady increase of around 5% in air travel, and in Lebanon’s first 2 months in 2018, passenger numbers spiked 10%. So, don’t just think Gulf tourists, think Lebanese expats, layover passengers, Lebanese who are traveling more for leisure and business and tourists from non-traditional locations.
Also, I really hope the tender process next year for the 2 phases is transparent and fair, so that the specter of corruption stays away from this ambitious project. I also hope the airport will be run more efficiently with the private sector operating it. Lastly, I hope the government will cut taxes they keep hiking up on travel, and that prices of tickets outbound from Beirut become more affordable, as more and more people fly more often, with more planes to take them to more destinations, making flight a necessity that’s met efficiently in Lebanon, not just a luxury many struggle to afford.
Phase 1
Phase 2
Special thanks to MEA for inviting me on this trip. It was awesome meeting everyone, exploring this Turkish province that I hadn’t visited before and working on getting this story in tandem. Also, special thanks to my dearest Lea Mehanna for the invaluable help in compiling this, and Nadine Mezher for helping me find a presentation that had extra information from what I was able to gather.
21dB’s third episode of their beautiful “Sound Matters” series is out, and after releasing the first two episodes here featuring The Garten and Reunion, I’m extremely excited to share with you the third episode, featuring the legendary Uberhaus winter venue.
The “beast” as it was fondly called by everyone who spent hours dancing in its “belly”, was an acoustic miracle. For a structure made mainly with shipping containers, the sound was exceptionally crisp and warm, the opposite of what you’d expect from a structure like that.
This was thanks to Uberhaus teaming up with the 21dB to ensure that the sound in their mega club that put Beirut back on the international clubbing scene, was on par with the parties and names they were hosting.
It’s awesome seeing how the solution was found in a way that doesn’t affect the aesthetic sexiness of the one-of-a-kind structure that was the location where so many of us made so many fond memories in.
Check out 21dB’s Fouad, and Uberhaus’ Nemr and Ali take you through the steps that led to the creation of one of Beirut’s most iconic clubs, and the hard work that goes in behind the music!
Stay tuned to find out what the next episode will be, and if you missed them, here are The Garten and Reunion episodes!
I promised myself last week that I’d post something good Lebanese have accomplished or are planning to accomplaish across the world every week. This week’s edition is about the 2018 Oscars, which saw five Lebanese designers dress stars on the red carpet: Elie Saab, Reem Acra, Zuhair Murad, Georges Chakra and Tony Ward!
Elie Saab
Many of y’all might not now this, but I’ve worn an Elie Saab dress. It was for my christening in 1991, and even had my name embroidered onto the white dress. So, suck it fasionistas, I’ve worn Elie Saab since before I could even talk or walk.
Rita Hayek, Diaman Abou Abboud, Joelle Touma
The actresses in Ziad Doueiri’s “The Insult”, the first ever Lebanese movie to be nominated for an Oscar, all rocked Elie Saab dresses to the Oscars last night.
Gino's Blog 