hollaback_
Sunday, July 03, 2005
i just watched
Live 8 on tv, and waited for about 4 hours for madonna to come on. her performance, as expected, was explosive, impactful and well worth the wait. a review of it will come later though. i must say that the inclusion of bigshot stars like brad pitt, angelina jolie, and will smith as well as famous people like nelson mandela, kofi annan and bill gates making speeches that pleaded for support was a pretty good idea. please do sign the petition at
Live 8 if you haven't already, it won't take more than 3 seconds.
before that, i must say that i'm rather disappointed by the lack of awareness and excitement generated by the singaporean media in support for Live 8 (barely a small article in the papers), which was sorely lacking. talk about wanting to be part of a global community, and the amount of apathy that emanates from this place. maybe that's why we're always this insignificant little fart, a small red dot that's close to being nothing. we are mocked abroad, we are mistaken for being a subsidiary province of china. little wonder then, because the real issues at hand don't affect anybody. all we care about is legalising casinos that boost our economy. and not that there are lots of children dying in africa. (omg this sounds so cliched i cringe somewhat) now i know that i'm one of the guilty who never really cared. i mean seriously, so what if they were dying. doesn't mean anything to me right? but i guess i'm a convert, and a cause has never drawn me so much, at the risk though of looking like i'm jumping on a bandwagon, seeing the hundreds and thousands of people cheering and clapping at those locations around the world. i guess after awhile if everything just revolved around yourself things'd lose their meaning. we do have our problems but that doesn't mean we can't give a simple regard for others too.
you know, this reminds me of a newspaper article i read sometime ago about numbers in singapore for protests amounting to a measly 2. if i'm not wrong, it was against the iraq war at the US embassy. in other countries, these numbers reached up to the thousands, and all we can muster up are 2. singapore's really too cloistered and sheltered, it's not even funny anymore.
perhaps there'll be screening of Live 8 on local channels like 3 months after the whole thing. (and showing it on channel01, the preview channel, from 9pm to 6am, on starhub's silver cable box doesn't count) which ultimately defeats the purpose, don't you think. an international concert at 8 locations raising awareness of african poverty, urging to petition against this travesty through the doubling of aid and removal of long-term debt. that petition will be going up to the G8 leaders at their scotland summit in a few days. and every three seconds, *snap* another child in africa *snap* dies. just like that. *snap* a simple snapping of fingers.*snap* 30,000 in a day.*snap*. 3 months is way too late *snap*, and all we care about *snap* is getting more than *snap* 3As for our A levels.
then again, we can't even handle poverty on our own hometurf. how many people actually donate money to the poor? granted, they should be trying to find some kind of work instead of peddling dubious wares on the street - but still. i feel like getting a white band now, and it's not for fashion purposes. (i'm hardly fashionable to begin with.) hrrm. felt like being lazy and just stealing a commentary and review of madonna's Live 8 performance online, but then i decided that none of them really give it justice. so here goes:
A Blow-by-Blow of the BEST performance at Live 8firstly, bob geldof, rocker-turned-activist and organiser of Live 8 introduced birhan woldu, an ethiopian woman whose visage of 20 years ago was frozen on a screen at the end of a touching video montage of african children ravaged by the dismaying effects of AIDS and poverty, bloated stomachs and all. birhan is now in a university for agricultural studies, all cleaned up and in the pink of health. and he emphatically said, to all cynics out there (yes that includes you (: eugene and matthew ) that "yes, these things do work, 20 years ago she was 10 minutes from death. however, the money raised from the first Live Aid performance saved her".
then he introduced madonna "the queen bee of rock", another strong woman. she came out and after embracing birhan, goaded the audience, "are you ready london? are you ready to start a revolution? are you read to change history?" the audience was wild, proclaiming their agreement. then the band started, and a full choir all clad in virginal white, just as she was, started the chilling backing vocals of "like a prayer". a spanish guitar started the riffs and chords. madonna insisted that birhan stay on stage, and as she held her hand she started singing. it was powerfully symbolic. really apt lyrics in light of the petition to G8 leaders,
i have no choicei hear your voicejust like a prayeryour voice can take me therein the midnight houri can feel your powerby the end of the first song, she had the whole of hyde park in london clapping along with her as she ended on her knees. birhan and the choir left. then she asked the audience again, "are you fucking ready, london?!" the crowd was mad by then. "ray of light", the second song, had everyone fired up too with really fitting lyrics, such as
waiting for the time when
earth shall be as one
as the song drew to a close, two hiphop backing dancers came out and did some breakdancing. "do you want some more?!" a backing beatbox vocoder recording started the familiar beat of "music" and madonna started a hot 'n heavy groovy dance-cum-song routine with her two dancers with some really nifty footwork and dancesteps. her supple and lithe movements proved that past 40 and after 2 babies, she's nowhere near going past her prime. as the song reached its end, the choir came running out and joined in a few dance moves as well, which was really amazing. then she repeated the most important line of the song, that summed up the whole purpose of the concert, and got the whole 15,000 present singing along that line with her for a good three minutes,
music makes the people come togethermusic makes the bourgeoisie and the rebeli guess there's nothing that can beat that, really. BBC gave her performance a good 10/10. i whole-heartedly agree with that and would rate it higher if possible. i'm willing to forgive some of her pitchy parts because it's really hard to sing live and dance energetically at the same time, yet sound decent. the performance really cemented her originally flagging status as the indisputable queen of pop, with its electrifying effect it had. she proved that that title was deserved, and i'm proud of her. hopefully the resonance of that concert will go further than just a day. as
BBC said,
Madonna: She's not the queen of pop for nothing. During Music, she got everyone clapping in unison the way Freddie Mercury did in 1985. This will be remembered as one of the Live 8 moments, with the crowd desperate to worship in her regal presence. hoho, pwns mariah who came out in a skimpy tight dress and requested for a sip of water and a mike stand in a diva-like way.
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annoyed at shoutbox's inefficiencies.
anyway, just felt like i had to mention this. random memory from thailand trip. the tour guide's advice that we couldn't watch the "Adult" cabaret performance because we "weren't adult yet, not 21". and i thought to myself,
i've seen much worse than that, trust me.
mike just took up your time at
3:21 am
th time!