Isaac Stern VS. Saddam Hussein

Israel, February 23rd 1991, during the Gulf War... “The footage is a fantastic testament to the fact that, for some performers, even the might of war is not enough to upstage them. While touring Israel during the Gulf War, which by itself is pretty brave, violonist Isaac Stern had to briefly halt a performance of a Bach concerto when air raid sirens started going off. Saddam Hussein was regularly pelting Israel with Scud missiles at the time, so this was no minor deal. As the assembled musicians left the stage, the audience strapped on gas masks in preparation for the worst. Instead of the worst, though, what they got was a defiant Isaac Stern returning to the stage mere moments later, sans gas mask, to finish doing his job. As the audience looked on from behind the uncomfortable lenses of a device meant to ward off death by chemical attack. Stern shredded the daylights out of a violin solo in an effort to get the crowd back in a classically rocking mood. The best part about the incident is that it was all