GLOBAL CITIZENS; BLOG NUMBER 102; Oct. 25, 2013

The Global Citizen Festival

Stevie Wonder made believers out of a youthful crowd of 60,000-plus at the Global Citizen Festival, held Saturday in New York City's Central Park, with a joyful display of iconic soul-funk hits, a smattering of famous cameos and an awareness on his part that this night was about much more than great music.

BONO AND STEVIE WONDER AT GLOBAL CITIZEN FESTIVAL

He went slightly off message at one point in his performance, “We must do something about the gun laws in this country,” he declared, noting that John Lennon had died at the hands of a gunman years ago. He expanded on this idea for a moment, before starting into “Imagine,” Lennon’s hymn of yearning idealism. 

Robert Caplin for The New York Times

The Festival drew a capacity audience of 60,000. Its mission is to eradicate extreme poverty worldwide. It was designed to capture the attention of the United Nations General Assembly. While well-intentioned, it seems more and more hopeless to attempt to get this body to have any real effect on the cause. The marathon festival featured Stevie, John Mayer, Alicia Keys, the Kings of Leon and Elvis Costello.  

Hugh Evans, a humanitarian from Australia, has a gift for drawing others to his cause.  Mr. Evans, 30, has become a prominent voice in the antipoverty movement. He is the co-founder of the nonprofit Global Poverty Project and chief organizer of the festival, which aims to raise something more lasting than money. He thanked the festival sponsors and directed a poignant barb at Tony Abbott, Australian prime minister.  PM Abbot had recently announced a government planned reduction of $4B in foreign aid. Evans admonished, "Reverse course Prime Minister." 

Kings of Leon  performed two songs from their album Mechanical Bull 'Don’t Matter'  and 'Family Tree'. They introduced a new song, 'Beautiful War' with a line in the chorus referring to “something worth fighting for.” They were hugely applauded.

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The Kings

John Mayer  played “Waiting on the World to Change,” making an attempt to point out all of the past excuses for inaction. 

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Alicia Keys dedicated “Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart” to “all the children of the world who might have to sleep with a broken heart.”  In a new song, which repeats the phrase “Better me, better you,” she struck the evening’s truest note of self-appraisal. “I’m here to make a statement,” she sang proudly. Later in the song she intoned, “You’re here to make a statement,” 

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Stevie Wonder performed old favourites “Sir Duke” and “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” He was greeted enthusiastically and took full advantage of the reception. “We are global citizens, we’re gonna change the world,” he sang.

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Elvis Costello 

Performed a brief solo medley that was well received. The following clip is not the repertoire from the festival.

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QUESTIONS:  Does foreign aid really solve the problem of world poverty? What else is needed?

QUOTE:  "I don't think he (JD Salinger) was selfish. He was just deeply human, and didn't know what the hell to do about it."-Selene Castrovilla

LAURELS TO:    STEVIE WONDER 

       

The man is a great performer, a committed individual and a true soul. 

CLIP OF THE WEEK: