Gr8 Expectations

"We Are The Third World....We Are The Dying Children..."

Sir Bob Geldof came out of retirement this year and managed to pull off another Nobel Peace Prize-worthy accomplishment of getting the music industry to band together for the sake of poverty-ridden Africa. Over the 4th of July weekend, Sir Bob along with a little from his friends, staged another momentous concert, topping his previous personal best of Live Aid from way back in 1985.




"I don't like Mondays...."


"...or Tuesdays, or Wednesdays, or Thursdays, or..."


This time, pretty much like the last time, the emphasis was on the starving people of Africa. Only this time, the emphasis was not on asking the music lovers to donate their money, but the stage was set in order to bring attention to, and put pressure on the world leaders who just happened to be meeting in Scotland the very next week at the big G8 conference. The hope was to raise awareness so that these greedy world leaders would raise their consciences enough to recognize the seriousness of 30,000 people dying on a daily basis in Africa.


The Who's Pete Townshend concerned for
those who "Won't Get Food Again"

Everyone in the music industry that's anyone - especially those in need of a career boost - were on board for the big show. Veteran rockers such as U2, Lady Madonna, Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John, and Sir Snoop Dog were all in attendance on stages throughout the free world. London, Philadelphia, Tokyo, Berlin just to name drop a few, all played host to what turned out to be the biggest musical event in the history of the world.


"No mo' povertishizi in Africafashizi, you dig!"

So, did it work? Despite the best efforts of Sir Bob and the gang, as of this writing, poverty still exists. However, those world leaders did manage to double their offering for Africa, alloting some $50 billion dollars in aid to the ravaged country. It's just a shame that such a momentous event must be created in order to get the world's attention. But at least we got a reunited Pink Floyd out of it!!!


Which One's Pink?

As a side note, due to the incredibly pathetic coverage of this momentous event by cable channels MTV and VH1 - where each and every song was interrupted at some point by a handful of video 'personalities' expounding on "How awesome this is, and stay tuned after these 5 minute commercial breaks for more partial coverage of Live 8" - these stations offered up a very impressive music-only version the following weekend. Shame on you, MTV and VH1, for botching it so badly in the first place! And way to go, AOL for providing video footage of all the performances throughout the day of the event, and even later still on demand. But you still charge too damn much for internet dial-up!


They came....they saw....they were enlightened...."


...and they were pigs!
Sheesh!! Didn't you kids learn anything???!!!"