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When it came to the celebration of his 60th birthday, Isaac Stern did not fiddle around. The violinist arrived at a Tel Aviv party in his honor in an open 1930-vintage Ford, surrounded by a band of Dixieland jazzmen. Zubin Mehta, director of both the Israel and New York Philharmonic orchestras, gave his phonoholic friend a loudspeaker telephone perfect for use while fiddling. Out of a giant cake popped a curvy violinist in a sequined dress, playing part of a Bach chaconne. "The warm feeling which I see here will stay with me forever," the birthday boy beamed. "Friends and love are the most important things in life." Stern clearly has plenty. The night before his party he had played to a crowd of 130,000— the largest audience of his 45-year career. — Claudia Wallis