POP/ROCK - Aug. 22, 1989

A Wednesday press conference at Los Angeles City Hall hosted by Mayor Tom Bradley will kick off an unprecedented cultural exchange that will send Jewish musicians on a tour of the Soviet Union. Billed as a “folk-rock-Jewish-soul” tour, the five-city trek will feature Jewish folk music pioneer Shlomo Carlebach and the L.A.-based band Promised Land, with the first date set for Sept. 7 in Leningrad. The tour is the result of two years of planning and negotiations by music executive Stuart Wax who, according to a spokesman, “combines Orthodox Judaism with his love for rock music, especially the Grateful Dead.” In exchange, the Soviet band Secrets plans to tour the United States next spring.