Tag Archive for "gary mckinnon" 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.

That’s ‘inspirational’ due to their work ever-so-slightly beyond the realms of their most successful musical output; for example, in raising awareness of social and political causes, campaigning for charity, lending their voices – for singing or speaking – to help bolster major, televised, worldwide benefits and what not.

The obvious one has to be Saint/Sir (delete as you see fit) Bob Geldof, whose birthday is today. The Live Aid legend is now better known in some parts for his no-nonsense style of campaigning rather than for his music.

But there are so many others. There’s David Crosby and Graham Nash, Annie Lennox, Peter Gabriel, Roger Daltrey, Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt (whose website has a broad section covering her activist leanings and lists innumerable noble causes), Bono, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Yusuf Islam (better known as Cat Stevens), Elton John… They’ve defended the rights of humans and animals, they’ve set up their own foundations to assist orphans, veterans, sufferers of AIDS and cancer. They’ve dramatically pinned their colours to rival masts at election time.

How do you feel about celebrities sharing their beliefs, not necessarily exclusively through their music, and making you aware of which causes they endorse?

David, obviously, has supported his fair share down the years, but in the genteel manner that we have come to expect of him. His recent support of Gary McKinnon, I know, has ruffled the odd feather in certain quarters.

Paul McCartney singing (with Wings) about giving Ireland back to the Irish, which his record company didn’t want to release and was promptly blacklisted, is another controversial example. And what of the controversy surrounding Cat Stevens’ religious conversion? A prejudiced, selfish over-reaction if ever there was one.

I’m thinking also of the backlash to Neil Young’s Living With War album and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s 2006 Freedom of Speech tour (as documented in the Déjà Vu film). Is such a determined focus at all off-putting? Could you, or have you, turned your back on a musician’s work because his beliefs conflicted unforgivably with your own? Or is it just music, just an opinion; something for the musician to get out of his or her system and the listener to get over?

I’d like to hear your views and which moments stand out as being most effective or memorable, maybe even embarrassing. And do tell us something we might not know about the musicians you enjoy, but the rest of us perhaps know little about. Which causes are closest to their hearts and how have they used their privileged position to advance them? Which have you cheered and which have you cursed?

Favourite Protest Songs coming soon, so please keep them in mind ready for a future post. That should be a good one…

Lastly, thank you very much for the kind birthday greetings; I had a lovely day… or three, as it turned out.

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?

As you know, David has been one of many to speak out against Gary McKinnon’s planned extradition to the US to stand trial for computer hacking charges, agreeing to produce a new recording of the Graham Nash protest song, ‘Chicago’.

If extradited, Gary could face a prison stretch of up to 70 years in a high-security penitentiary, which seems a very harsh punishment for looking for evidence of alien life and is hardly appropriate for someone with an autistic condition.

Gary was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome in August 2008. His late diagnosis meant that his form of autism was not considered in previous legal hearings.

If this campaign, which asks that the decision to extradite be over-turned and culminates next month in a judicial review, fails, he could be sent to the US to stand trial immediately.

Gary’s supporters want to make sure that Gary isn’t extradited and that any further legal proceedings – and a prison sentence, if need be – be served in the UK, where a conviction under the UK’s Computer Misuse Act carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.

UK readers, you can e-mail your MP to ask for his or her support and let the Prime Minister know your feelings by signing this petition.

It takes barely a minute to show your support, it’s a thoroughly professional (Number 10) appeal which asks only for a name and address. As of now, there are more than three thousand signatories. Please tell your friends and family about it.

The chatroom is open until 17:00 (UK), so come and talk about this, Monday’s Crisis gig (some photographs of Polly’s from the concert can be found here, by the way), or anything else that takes your fancy. Registration is a doddle.

Hello. Long time, no see. I hope you’re keeping well.

We’ll be back to the usual odd mixture of random musings soon. First, I’d like to catch up on your reaction to last week’s news: namely the story about this week’s ’sing-in’ protest against Gary McKinnon’s planned extradition.

In what David called “a heavy handed response” from the US, Gary, who has Asperger’s syndrome, stands accused of hacking into US military websites and is now under threat of extradition – under the controversial 2003 Extradition Act, which allows US authorities to demand extradition without having to provide much by way of evidence – so that he can stand trial in the States.

He could face up to an incredible 70 years in jail there, labelled an ‘enemy combatant’, which sounds like a most severe wrap across the knuckles as punishment for looking for proof of alien life, as Gary maintains.

I’d like to know what you think. Some might argue that he did them a favour by exposing how lax their security was. (Default passwords at the Pentagon?!)

In the same vein, Earth Hour.

Did you vote, either way, with your light switch on Saturday? Do you think the results, due to be presented to the powers that be in Copenhagen at the end of the year, will make a blind bit of difference to world policy on climate change?

I hear that some thought it appropriate (funny? clever?) to deliberately use as much electricity as possible during that hour, dressing it up as a celebration of human achievement. To me it seems like a rather spiteful, childish and, above all, wasteful way to mock. Still, if you orchestrate a global election and ask people to vote for Earth (or not) in this way, surely that was always likely to happen. Besides, many don’t have light switches to flick – in anger or anything else.

So, as the Graham Nash song re-written for Gary’s case goes: ‘We can change the world, re-arrange the world, it’s dying to get better.’ Do you believe that we can?

Let’s hope the protesters in London for the G20 summit this week do.

Viva la Revolución…