Tag Archive for "bob geldof" tag

It’s Graham’s birthday today, so what better excuse could you possibly need to play all your favourites as written and sung throughout a distinguished career; first with The Hollies, then with Crosby, Stills & Nash and later with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, as well as solo (five solo albums to date and counting, not including last year’s three-disc career retrospective, Reflections, which boasts over 30 previously unreleased tracks), and not forgetting session work (On an Island being one such case you can all recall without even trying)?

Best known for helping to create the most flawless of harmonies and for penning deeply meaningful lyrics, as well as for all those much-loved pop classics of the early Sixties, Graham, of resolute social conscience, has also been a loyal campaigner for issues that mean most to him, such as environmental causes (establishing NukeFree.org, for example).

He also gave his support – and song – to help Gary McKinnon’s campaign to challenge his extradition on charges of computer hacking. If you missed it or just want to enjoy it again, you can find ‘Chicago (Change the World)’ featuring David, Chrissie Hynde and Bob Geldof, with all-important download links, here.

Did you know that Graham is also a keen photographer and collector of photographs? If you share a passion for photography, have a look and perhaps, in addition to sharing which of Graham’s songs you like best, you can also comment on his diverse collection – there’s plenty to listen to whilst you browse.

Aside from the obvious (‘Just One Look’*, ‘Carrie Anne’, ‘Dear Eloise’, ‘King Midas in Reverse’, ‘Teach Your Children’, ‘Marrakesh Express’), a selection of my favourites would have to include ‘Postcard’, ‘Southbound Train’, ‘Helplessly Hoping’, ‘Liar’s Nightmare’, ‘Military Madness’ and this one, ‘On the Line’.

As a life-long Hollies fan, I’m really pleased to say that they will – finally! – be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month in a ceremony at New York City’s Waldorf Astoria. It’s about bloody time, too.

Congratulations, and Happy Birthday, Graham.

* ‘Just One Look’, you may not know, was co-written by one Doris Troy/Payne, probably best remembered ’round these parts for being one of the acclaimed female backing vocalists on The Dark Side of the Moon. Here’s her 1963 original.

The re-recording of the Graham Nash song, ‘Chicago’, with additional lyrics penned by Gary’s mother and featuring the vocals of David, Chrissie Hynde, Bob Geldof and Gary himself, is now available for download – here.

David also plays guitar, bass and keyboards on the track.

Its release coincides with today’s judicial review application, the outcome of which, it is hoped, will be the decision that Gary can stand trial on charges of computer hacking, and serve any necessary jail time, in the UK.

If you have a PayPal account (preferable, but not essential), you can download the song with ease after making a voluntary donation of any amount. Your donation will help Gary continue his fight to stay in the UK and challenge the one-sided extradition treaty that would have him face charges in the US.

Download instructions are provided.

For the full story, see the Latest News page.

For previous discussion, which you are still very welcome to take part in, see past blog entries concerning Gary’s case here and here.

If you’ve heard it, what do you think of the song?

It was the mother of all benefit gigs and it took place on this day in 1985. “The day the music changed the world” was what they called it and consequently stamped on the commemorative DVD.

It was one of the largest television broadcasts/satellite link-ups ever, reportedly viewed by more than 1.5 billion, in 60 countries, around the world.

As well as raising awareness of the plight of the starving in Africa, some say that a kitty holding somewhere in the region of £150 million was raised for famine relief as a direct result of the concerts, which saved between a million and two million lives.

David, of course, was at Wembley (with Bryan Ferry), but whose performances do you remember as being special? I thought U2 were excellent that day.

If you don’t already have it, there is an official four-disc set of the Live Aid concerts, which was released in November 2004. Proceeds go to the Band Aid Charitable Trust, which continues to support projects across Africa.

The spot where international focus was most firmly fixed following Michael Buerk’s harrowing news report, Ethiopia, today remains one of Africa’s poorest and most populous countries. Only 10 percent of its land is arable, its dry climate dictating that the cruel cycle of drought and famine does not come as a great shock. Ethiopian life expectancy, according to the UN, is a depressing 52-54 years, but that’s hardly surprising when you consider that 46% of the population are under-nourished, only 22% have access to safe drinking water, and there are three doctors per 100,000 potential patients.

23% of Ethiopians live on less than $1 a day and, even in an ‘average’ year, six million have to be fed by the outside world. Twice as many are hungry today than during the “biblical” famine of 1984/5 that spurred Bob Geldof to act.

Hold that thought.

I recently read a strongly-worded article by Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, entitled “Band Aid and ’self-obsessed, angst-driven Western do-gooders’”.

You might care to do the same, but the following paragraph in particular made me stop and read again. If it has a similar effect on you, I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts, if you’ve got time to share them.

It has always intrigued me why the conscience of the West can only be pricked by degradation of other peoples. The process of getting westerners to part with their donations end up dehumanizing and degrading Africa. Instead of creating the much needed understanding and solidarity it creates an unequal power relation with psychological hang-ups about superior and inferior peoples; one is a permanent donor and the other is a permanent supplicant. That one-way street does not lead to understanding, rather it institutionalizes a ‘we know best’ attitude on the part of the humanitarian industry. It also makes the humanitarian agencies married to bad news from Africa, thereby becoming professional merchants of our misery.