Lorrel recently posted about Live8, and I had intended to post (sooner than this, obviously), about the show(s), and encourage people to go check it out (did you know that one child dies every three seconds because of poverty? I kid you not). Of course, I'm a day late and a dollar short. In my defense, I did have a wedding on Sunday, and Bella's been sick, and now Ross and I are sick (isn't the family unit a wonderful thing?), so I've had some stuff going on.
However, much to my delight, I found out that I AOL has the London, Philly and Toronto shows online. The Toronto show has Barenaked Ladies, who I love. Defenitely check out Million Dollars...it's one of my favorite songs. London has Coldplay (love their new song, Fix You, which is featured), Sting (okay, how bummed am I -- I just went to his website and realized he was here in April. Although, come to think of it -- I was in some serious bed when he came, but still...), U2 (I have always loved their version of Unchained Melodies, and this one's pretty cool, because you hear the audience singing more than Bono, and One is such a great song, and if you're a fan of the Beatles as well, as I am, there's a cool version of Sgt. Peppers with Paul McCartney -- too awesome) and REM with (oldish songs=better than the most recent stuff), among others. Philadelphia has Jars of Clay, Sarah McLachlan (love the acoustic version of Angel -- I've heard her do it live twice, but Josh Groban joins her on this one), and Def Leppard(?!). Oh yeah, and for my husband: Pink Floyd played London. I'm embarrassed to even admit, but, Hi my name is Kelly, and I like Will Smith. Oh, and the Will Smith having the entire audience sing the theme from
Fresh Prince of Bel Air is pretty classic too (philly, of course). And of course, I have to give a shout out to Madonna. Love her or hate her, she's a great entertainer (plus, I wrote my thesis on her, so...I think I have to). Like a Prayer is beautiful, with a full on choir in the background. Also, the Cure played the Paris show, which you can't find at the other links. But if you're a fan, and want to see them, click here. (Hello! Boys Don't Cry AND Just Like Heaven! Although, I have to warn you - Robert Smith looks a little, um, oldish and kinda chunky, and the eyeliner doesn't have quite the effect it used to, now that he's not all scary/skinnyalterna). Okay, I'll stop talking about all the music. I'll let you discover some stuff on your own.
Anyhow, if you're a fan of the music, I'd suggest you check it out. But even more, go to the Live8 site, and add your name to the list, and/or upload your face, which, if you know me at all, you know I already did.
A quick music aside...most of the music on my computer (however many gigs of it) are mostly things I've downloaded, with a few CD burns. But listening to this music has made me realize I really need to get out some of my hundreds of CDs and put them on my computer. Heh. I'm already envisioning my husband commiting hari kari reading that statement. I'm already in trouble for the amount of 'junk' he says I have on my computer, and for not backing up more often. I can only imagine the shortness of breath and scowl of consternation reading about me starting to download all my CDs on my computer. He's gonna kill me. Of course, he kinda deserves it for that 'old' comment he made recently.
Okay, back to the thinking stuff...
I recently heard Oprah make a statement (yes, I cringingly admit to watching Oprah on occasion, but in my defense -- I've had a lot of need for the telly in the last few months). But she said something like (and don't quote me), "If you are born a woman into the United States, you are already better off than 90% of the rest of the women in the world." And that statement has really been banging around in my head for awhile. Why? Well...for one, in case you haven't been paying attention, I'm a woman chick. And also, because I have two little girls, who we already want the stars and the moon for. And because I have lived in the U.S. exclusively (with the glaring good fortune of being able to travel a LOT), I kinda get what Oprah's saying. Because even what we consider 'poverty' in the U.S., is considered not too bad pretty much anywhere not a first-world country. I don't know why that particular quote has been in my head a lot recently (perhaps it's the fact that every night for almost the past week I've only gotten about 4-5 hours sleep, and I've got a lot of thinking time as I toss and turn). But thinking just how PRIVILEGED we are, as women in the U.S. Nobody gives it a second thought that we're active members of society, with the right to vote (thank you Elizabeth Cady Stanton!), be heard, be noticed. That we have a choice -- do we want to work or stay home with the kids. That that's even something that would be called a troubling question here in the U.S. for our women is an enormous privilege. As most countries, even to this day, don't give those of us with the XX much credit, or even notice. We don't have to worry about genital mutliation (oh, I can't wait to see how people get to this blog in the next few days), we have a right to choose our leaders, our religion, basically - everything. We can prosecute those who would try to hurt and/or abuse us. We can march in Take Back the Night marches, we can vote against things we don't believe in, we can be just as edumucated as the boys. We can play sports, we're protected by laws, we have rights, we can decide we're going to cover ourselves from head-to-toe, or hit the beach in a bikini (which, if you also have the good fortune to have grown up in Santa Cruz, you know what I'm talking about). This is not true of a lot of women in this world. To read a particularly chilling account of what's going on to this world's women, you can click here. And I really, really hate to agree with Oprah (well, maybe only one really), but I'm with her on this one. We are blessed and we are privileged.
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