OBAMA FEVER – has reached way beyond the shores of the USA. Ironically, while the McCain camp entrenches itself further into a series of Obama hating blunders, various people around the world are doing the complete opposite by making songs in tribute to the candidate who is most likely to become the next President of the USA. Titles of the tunes include: Calypso King The Mighty Sparrow with “Barack The Magnificent” , top conscious reggae singer Cocoa Tea with “Barack Obama” and Congolese legend Samba Mapangala “Obama Ubarikiwe”.
The only time I can ever recall a popular song dedicated to a US President was Gil Scott-Heron’s ‘Re-Ron’ a powerful anti-Reagan rap which resulted in Gil being censored from performance in the USA – except for two or three venues. Never before has a US Presidential candidate received such worldwide creative adulation, and if next week’s election was based on this alone, Obama would win by a ludicrous margin.
So what’s the real reason for John McCain being so anti-Obama? Many people are bewildered by the Republican candidate’s persistence on the ‘Joe the Plumber’ tag line. Basing a whole presidential race on an illogical fallacy is quite a risky approach. But McCain continues unabated despite credible Republican defections such as former US Sec of State Colin Powell, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
So why is Senator McCain so adamant? The answer is simple mathematics. The mythical ‘Joe the Plumber’ won’t lose out from Obama getting elected – in all truth McCain will. We are talking about someone who will probably get a pay cut if elected President and a person who when recently questioned by journalists could not remember how many homes he owns! In fact, he responded in the most banal manner by stating “I don’t know – I’ll have my staff get that for you.”
In all seriousness, would you trust this person to run the USA when he doesn’t know if he owns 6 or 11 mansions and when up to 3.5 million people in the USA experience homelessness in any given year? John McCain is simply looking out for number 1, but reality may be a bitter experience on the morning of November 5 when he doesn’t reach the top spot. It’s unlikely, given his 71 years, that the Republican Presidential candidate will return to being a senator. One thing is, however, more or less certain, Governor Sarah Pallin, bless her cotton socks, will have more time to return her favourite leisure activity, moose hunting from a helicopter in the Alaskan wilderness!
HARMONY For Humanity – a song produced by Stand Out Selector featuring musicians, poets and singers from the USA and Cyprus is now available as a free download @ www.myspace.com/harmony4humanitycy . Written in memory of journalist and musician Daniel Pearl, the song was the result of 36 hours recording activity in San Francisco and Nicosia. It was an honour to be part of this project as a poet and more than anything it shows what can be achieved by working together creatively and technologically.
Day 1, the band in the USA recorded the backing track at Pyramind Studios in San Francisco. Day 2 Stand Out Selector recorded in Nicosia at Olive Tree Music – seven vocalists in 10 hours! By the end of the session, the sound files were ftp’ed to the USA and Michael Roach, the engineer at Pyramind informed us by email that three mixes will be in our inbox by the crack of dawn. Stunned is all I can say because just 12 hours later, there they were all three tracks, sounding amazing.
Stand Out returns to the US via Greece with yours truly for a reggae session at Mad Club in Gazi, Athens, with the historic THC sound system. Big up to all the people who supported the works this year…one heart, one aim, harmony for humanity…
NOW you manage now you don’t – it’s unfathomable how some onecan be manager of Spurs earning £5m a year one day and then be sacked the next. But that’s how it happened for Juande Ramos following the team’s atrocious start to the season. Chairman Daniel Levy not only replaced Ramos but changed the whole managerial structure to a more traditional system where the new head coach, Harry Redknapp now has full control of who is bought and sold.
The first two results, 2-0 against Bolton and an incredible 4-4 comeback draw with Arsenal, have lifted hopes of survival in the Premiership for Spurs. Another good result today against Liverpool and the Lilywhites will be on the rise from the bottom of the table.
My prediction, 2-1 to Spurs – nice one Harry!