Live Aid II

[Jaytrek57]

AAARRGGGHHH!!!

My favorite band...Pink Floyd gets together after 24 *&^%$ years apart and MTV in all its wisdom, cuts to commericial in the middle of Comfortably Numb?!?

Jay-Z and Lincoln Park, though not a huge "rap" fan, really put on a show.

As long as MTV did not produce it, I can't wait for the DVD.

 

[thetrailboss]

I only caught the tail end of it...looked interesting. They were talking about this on NPR and the fact that NOBODY knew about it...I only heard of it on NPR. Kind of low key event, except in the UK. BBC was really talking it up.

 

[riverc0il]

very low key considering pink floyd just reunited for a show. that's the only reason i knew about it and not until a few weeks ago. just goes to show you how much the united states media invests in coverage of africa. hopefully this one will have more of an impact than the last one did.

any one remember bush promising something like 8 billion to africa a few years back? i guess most african countries never managed to meet the air tight requirements and paper work needed to qualify. although a lot of money has been given, it wasn't nearly what was promised at one of the state of the unions.

interesting that the organizer told performers not to critisize bush or blair and to stay "on message." i think that is a good idea for the most part... it's not like administrations before the current one's didn't do enough to help.

 

[Stephen]

Sick of seeing it on Drudge Report. It's been the top story for a week (save for Sandra Day O'Connor).

I, too, will wait for the DVD.

-Stephen

 

[TenPeaks]

AOLmusic.com had uninterupted coverage. I was online for a good part of Saturday afternoon and had the stream running in the background. It was much better coverage than VH1 or MTV.

I think you can see clips from the concert on aolmusic.com. I haven't tried yet so if anyone sees any good clips let us know.

 

[Stephen]

A great article on the clash of the egos backstage.

-Stephen

 

[skijay]

I only knew it was happening because several of the XM channels that I normally listen to were carrying it. I heard parts of it on Saturday in Newport, VT.

If I did not use the XM radio in the car, I would not have known about Live8.

 

[Stephen]

I was sent a report this morning that shows that the private US donations to Africa outpace Europe 15 to 1.

Church collections, philanthropists and company-giving amounted to $22bn a year, according to a study by the Hudson Institute think-tank, easily more than the $16.3bn in overseas development sent by the US government. American churches, synagogues and mosques alone gave $7.5bn in 2003 - a figure which exceeds the government totals for France ($7.2bn) and Britain ($6.3bn) - according to numbers from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

 

[riverc0il]

nice find Stephen, though i think that report is slightly deceiving in using total dollars. i think a more representative number would be a percentage of giving based on something. for the government, it could GDP or total budget dollars. not sure what percentage of church dollars would be appropriate. given the US has more people and a bigger economy than france and britain, it only makes sense that total dollars should be high. though 15 to 1 does seem to indicate eurpoe is indeed lacking somewhat compared to the US. also, that quote compares apples an oranges when it compares giving by religious institutions compared to governments. be wary of stats thrown out without critical analysis.

 

[ctenidae]

I'm with riverc0il on this one- those stats are six kinds of suspect- the numbers may be spot on, but the meaning is open to a large amount of interpretation. For instance, I'd be willing to bet a large portion of the church dollars went to missionaries, Bibles, and such. Granted, they do a lot of good, I'm not taking that away, but to be meaningful, you should only count "useful" dolalrs. Same thing goes to the government dolalrs too, I'm afraid. One of the reasons US AID is roundly despised is the restrictions they put on everything. One anecdotal story- some country, I forget which, needed sewer systems for the largest city. US AID was more than willing to supply money and such, but with a few restricitions- the city also had to buy several garbage trucks, from a US company. If they didn't buy the trucks, as a "comprehensive waste management plan", they couldn't have the sewer money. And there was no aid to pay for the trucks. In the end, they didn't get the trucks, or teh sewer system. Also involving garbage trucks, there's a cty in, I believe, Liberia, that is sister cities with, I think, Chicago. Chicago, being nice folks, donated two garbage trucks. The city has no garbage service, so they decorate the trucks up for Bob Marley Day.

Moral of the story: there may be a bunch of dollars flowing and doing very little good, if any.