Eat , Drink, Live ATE
LIVE ATE me
On Saturday I had the TV tuned into the Live 8 broadcasts, but with the sound turned off. Occasionally if I glanced over and something piqued my interest, I'd turn it on, but generally delegated it back to the land of MUTE within seconds. Why?
I was watching the Toronto Barrie show, with interspersed excerpts from the International venues. The Canadian equivalent was soft on talent and context, with a few notable exceptions such as Gordon Lightfoot (a cultural icon, politics aside), Bruce Cockburn and Neil Young, both of whom are irreproachable on all counts. Seriously though, what has Simple Plan, Motley Crue and Deep Purple really got to do mixing with this kind of event, other than the obvious benefits of self-promotion? I don't care how beloved the Bare Naked Ladies are to Canadians desperate to support home grown "talent"- I couldn’t bear to listen to their inane and only hit- " If I had a Million dollars", during a show allegedly intended to raise awareness about World poverty and hunger. I detected no discernable irony in the lyrics, "if I had a million dollars, I’d buy you a (INSERT COMMODITY)", to try to buy your love? . Come to think of it, it might not be so far off the mark after all. I’ll spend millions putting on a concert to show just how much I care that you’re starving in a country I can’t even identify on a map. To make ME feel better, thinking you (whoever you are) now love me for caring. Send out a shout out to Africa. Ignoring, of course, the starvation and desperate poverty among isolated indigenous communities in our own country of Canada- also off the map. Ignoring the mass rape, murder, HIV infection, starvation and forced expulsion being perpetrated on thousands of Sudanese, as we engage in endless debate over whether the word genocide is an appropriate term to describe their dilemma. Funny. I came to that conclusion over a year ago and our politicians are STILL DOING NOTHING. NEVER AGAIN? LIKE FUCK. I have physically participated in protests over the past 2 decades- including the Quebec summit where we were subjected to 5,000 canisters of teargas in an attempt to poison us into silence. We have put our heath and convictions physically and directly on the line and our political masters didn’t listen or care. Why should I believe that a rock concert in Barrie and a web petition can achieve otherwise???
I think that the bands’ material should have been more carefully chosen to support the cause, and not based on the given band’s greatest hit list in order to cater to audience recognition and generate further record sales. I really wonder what was the point of it all. There didn’t appear to be enough discussion on the true issues behind the vast poverty so many inhabitants face on this planet. Nelson Mandela was allowed a few words on the subject in Johannesberg, which we happily got to share. But none of it told people anything new beyond the obvious. How many in the audience are aware of the privatization of water in South African shantytowns, which is provoking water riots. Why not show these issues directly on television alongside images of the distended bellies we’ve evidently become immune to. The fact that impoverished people affected with Aids may be able to secure anti retrovirals to prolong their lives, if they’re among the very few fortunate ones. BUT one week out of four they can’t afford to pay for the clean water they also need to ward off infection, because privatization of natural resources is being forced upon indebted nations in return for said aid. Water pipes with pay meters in ghettos. Why not show this, and hordes of desperate people risking police and imprisonment to attack said pipes in the middle of the night? Not to mention the deals favouring biotech companies such as Monsanto, to push them towards GMO technology which will only result in further enslavement to the West. Denying people who have developed their own indigenous agricultural practices and seed varieties for centuries, the right to save seeds, avoid monoculture and live independently of the toxic chemical swill which is responsible for the increase in cancer deaths worldwide. Iraq is an example of this policy, where the constitution is being rewritten by the Americans to include provisions to the effect of enabling the biotech companies a future foothold. Where national seed stores were plundered and destroyed alongside their cultural heritage during the great "emancipation".
On another note, where were the women? I caught the great finale sing a long in Barrie. The closest we got to token representation in the main group was the "wife of" Neil Young, a female singer in a cowboy hat, a girl in a bikini (!?) and an androgynous tattooed rocker who looked sufficiently incongruous and uncomfortable to be embraced as one of our own.
That night I went out. I heard people talking about LIVE 8 at Sneaky Dee’s, a local punk club. Debating its merits and demerits. Most not complimentary.
My taxi driver going home was a Muslim from Ethiopia. We got into an intense political discussion which touched on a world of issues and regions. It was in a sense mutual back rubbing as we shared opinions and perspectives which were virtually identical, in spite of our radically different backgrounds and experiences. He turned off the meter at one point and we sat in front of my house for 45 minutes and engaged in further debate and a sharing of knowledge and information. We parted immensely pleased at the recognition that he and I are an example of how difference can be breached- that there is hope for a unified world. We also knew that our personal perspectives, though shared, are rare in this world and not of much consequence when it comes to the policy making decisions of those in power. Nevertheless, if like minded individuals can see past the immensely complicated cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious barriers which exist to isolate us from one other- if we can stand together, we WILL be a force to be reckoned with. For we have a will and a voice and a solid commitment to effecting a real change in this sad, sorry and desperately beautiful world we all share responsibility for.
On Saturday I had the TV tuned into the Live 8 broadcasts, but with the sound turned off. Occasionally if I glanced over and something piqued my interest, I'd turn it on, but generally delegated it back to the land of MUTE within seconds. Why?
I was watching the Toronto Barrie show, with interspersed excerpts from the International venues. The Canadian equivalent was soft on talent and context, with a few notable exceptions such as Gordon Lightfoot (a cultural icon, politics aside), Bruce Cockburn and Neil Young, both of whom are irreproachable on all counts. Seriously though, what has Simple Plan, Motley Crue and Deep Purple really got to do mixing with this kind of event, other than the obvious benefits of self-promotion? I don't care how beloved the Bare Naked Ladies are to Canadians desperate to support home grown "talent"- I couldn’t bear to listen to their inane and only hit- " If I had a Million dollars", during a show allegedly intended to raise awareness about World poverty and hunger. I detected no discernable irony in the lyrics, "if I had a million dollars, I’d buy you a (INSERT COMMODITY)", to try to buy your love? . Come to think of it, it might not be so far off the mark after all. I’ll spend millions putting on a concert to show just how much I care that you’re starving in a country I can’t even identify on a map. To make ME feel better, thinking you (whoever you are) now love me for caring. Send out a shout out to Africa. Ignoring, of course, the starvation and desperate poverty among isolated indigenous communities in our own country of Canada- also off the map. Ignoring the mass rape, murder, HIV infection, starvation and forced expulsion being perpetrated on thousands of Sudanese, as we engage in endless debate over whether the word genocide is an appropriate term to describe their dilemma. Funny. I came to that conclusion over a year ago and our politicians are STILL DOING NOTHING. NEVER AGAIN? LIKE FUCK. I have physically participated in protests over the past 2 decades- including the Quebec summit where we were subjected to 5,000 canisters of teargas in an attempt to poison us into silence. We have put our heath and convictions physically and directly on the line and our political masters didn’t listen or care. Why should I believe that a rock concert in Barrie and a web petition can achieve otherwise???
I think that the bands’ material should have been more carefully chosen to support the cause, and not based on the given band’s greatest hit list in order to cater to audience recognition and generate further record sales. I really wonder what was the point of it all. There didn’t appear to be enough discussion on the true issues behind the vast poverty so many inhabitants face on this planet. Nelson Mandela was allowed a few words on the subject in Johannesberg, which we happily got to share. But none of it told people anything new beyond the obvious. How many in the audience are aware of the privatization of water in South African shantytowns, which is provoking water riots. Why not show these issues directly on television alongside images of the distended bellies we’ve evidently become immune to. The fact that impoverished people affected with Aids may be able to secure anti retrovirals to prolong their lives, if they’re among the very few fortunate ones. BUT one week out of four they can’t afford to pay for the clean water they also need to ward off infection, because privatization of natural resources is being forced upon indebted nations in return for said aid. Water pipes with pay meters in ghettos. Why not show this, and hordes of desperate people risking police and imprisonment to attack said pipes in the middle of the night? Not to mention the deals favouring biotech companies such as Monsanto, to push them towards GMO technology which will only result in further enslavement to the West. Denying people who have developed their own indigenous agricultural practices and seed varieties for centuries, the right to save seeds, avoid monoculture and live independently of the toxic chemical swill which is responsible for the increase in cancer deaths worldwide. Iraq is an example of this policy, where the constitution is being rewritten by the Americans to include provisions to the effect of enabling the biotech companies a future foothold. Where national seed stores were plundered and destroyed alongside their cultural heritage during the great "emancipation".
On another note, where were the women? I caught the great finale sing a long in Barrie. The closest we got to token representation in the main group was the "wife of" Neil Young, a female singer in a cowboy hat, a girl in a bikini (!?) and an androgynous tattooed rocker who looked sufficiently incongruous and uncomfortable to be embraced as one of our own.
That night I went out. I heard people talking about LIVE 8 at Sneaky Dee’s, a local punk club. Debating its merits and demerits. Most not complimentary.
My taxi driver going home was a Muslim from Ethiopia. We got into an intense political discussion which touched on a world of issues and regions. It was in a sense mutual back rubbing as we shared opinions and perspectives which were virtually identical, in spite of our radically different backgrounds and experiences. He turned off the meter at one point and we sat in front of my house for 45 minutes and engaged in further debate and a sharing of knowledge and information. We parted immensely pleased at the recognition that he and I are an example of how difference can be breached- that there is hope for a unified world. We also knew that our personal perspectives, though shared, are rare in this world and not of much consequence when it comes to the policy making decisions of those in power. Nevertheless, if like minded individuals can see past the immensely complicated cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious barriers which exist to isolate us from one other- if we can stand together, we WILL be a force to be reckoned with. For we have a will and a voice and a solid commitment to effecting a real change in this sad, sorry and desperately beautiful world we all share responsibility for.
posted by Dawn One at 11:41 am
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