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More on Geldof's Bid for Attention

The Observer | OMM | The Gallagher interview in full


Sunday June 19, 2005

David Walliams: The first time I ever saw you, you were getting into a taxi in Camden. This was probably about 1995. I sort of bowed down and you waved out the window like the Queen, and from that moment I've always loved you.

Noel Gallagher: I don't remember that.

DW: Of course you don't remember that.

NG: It is the kind of thing I fucking do.

....

DW: Do you feel any guilt about being wealthy?

NG: No. Not at all. None. I was signing on 13 years ago. Absolutely no guilt whatsoever.

DW: Noel, you didn't feature on the Band Aid 20 record, did you?

NG: We were in LA recording the new album. You kind of get forced into those things, don't you? But there were lots of people in there that we have a problem with.

DW: Who?

NG: The Darkness. Keane. I like Bono. He's a friend of mine. I like Chris Martin. He's a friend of mine. Probably everyone else... I could pick an argument with them.

DW: Were you asked to do Live8?

NG: We can't do it. We've got a gig in Manchester that night.

DW: Would you do it otherwise?

NG: I'm not sure about this Live 8 thing. Correct me if I am wrong, but are they hoping that one of these guys from the G8 is on a quick 15-minute break at Gleneagles and sees Annie Lennox singing 'Sweet Dreams' and thinks, 'Fuck me, she might have a point there, you know.' It's not going to fucking happen, is it? Keane doing 'Somewhere Only We Know' and some Japanese businessman going: 'Aw, look at him ... we should really fuckin' drop that debt, you know.' It's not going to happen, is it?

DW: I suppose it's about raising public awareness. Matt [Lucas] and I got involved with Comic Relief this year and it does teach kids that there are people in the world that are less fortunate than us. I don't think you do engage with those sort of issues unless something like music or comedy brings you to them.

NG: Yeah, I understand. If we didn't have 60,000 people in a stadium waiting for us to come and play already... It just can't happen.

DW: Did you watch the first Live Aid on telly?

NG: Yes. I watched it in a caravan in Wales - in Rhyl. And we watched it again on DVD recently, just to see [Paul] Weller really ... with fuckin' no socks on, dancing with no guitar. What struck me was that the boy bands of the day such as Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran could all play their instruments. It's so far removed from the bands of today like Westlife and Boyzone, who are utter shit. I am not a fan of Duran Duran or Spandau Ballet, but now there is pop music and alternative music and there is nothing in between the two. I enjoyed Live Aid more the second time around, I think.

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Geldof and His Exercise in Self-Congratulation -- You Go Italians!

The Italians got it right. A bunch of over-privileged, overpaid, spoiled brats get to show off and tell the world how wonderful they are. If they really gave a shit about the poor, they'd be building full-service dormitories on their country estates so the homeless would have places to live.

Geldof chides Italian stars for Live 8 apathy - Yahoo! UK & Ireland News

Wednesday June 22, 11:35 AM


Geldof chides Italian stars for Live 8 apathy

ROME (Reuters) - Bob Geldof told Italy's rock stars on Tuesday there was no excuse to miss the Rome stage of the Live 8 concert next month, as some of the country's top acts hesitated over playing "the biggest concert of your life".

Rome will host a huge free concert in the Circus Maximus -- the ancient Roman chariot race track -- on July 2, one of eight events around the world aimed at focusing the world's attention on poverty reduction, but some big stars are wavering.

Vasco Rossi, possibly Italy's most popular rock singer, has pulled out of the concert where he had been due to top the bill, saying it clashes with another gig he is due to play in Ancona, on the other side of the Italian peninsula.

Another singer demanded more information on what the gig is about before agreeing to appear.

"Vasco is a great star, a really great, great artist, and I think he should be on that stage," Geldof, the organiser of the event, told a news conference in Rome.

"Where's Vasco? Vasco where are you? We want Vasco. We need Vasco," he said, to spontaneous applause from Italian reporters.

Geldof said many of other acts were juggling their schedules to play at one of the eight Live 8 concerts being staged ahead of the Group of Eight (G8) in Scotland on July 6-8.

U2, Coldplay, Elton John, REM and Green Day are all playing their own concerts on July 2 -- many in different countries -- and still plan to perform at Live 8, Geldof said.

"He's not going to lose his voice," he said. "He only has to sing two songs."

Unlike in Britain, where Live 8 has received massive publicity, it has been barely mentioned by Italian media.

Singer Lorenzo Jovanotti, another household name in Italian pop who has performed in the past to campaign against poverty, said he would not agree to play Live 8 until he got more information about the Rome concert.

Geldof said Jovanotti was right to want to find out more about the event and said he would speak to him personally.

Geldof, who organised the 1985 Live Aid concert in London and Philadelphia, has drawn some of the world's best known acts to play at the concerts, even persuading Britain's feud-riven Pink Floyd to reunite for the first time in 24 years.

Geldof got the idea of inviting the line-up that created Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall to reform after he read an interview on the Internet with drummer Nick Mason.

"He said the only reason he could stand to get the band back together would be a new Live Aid," Geldof said.

"It's bad enough to force a divorced man and wife to get back together ... This is four people with four divorces."

Geldof said any pop act should leap at the chance to play Live 8 as it would be an historical event, but that he would not be performing himself.

"I would love to play on that stage, but as an artist I don't deserve to, so I am not going to," he said. Geldof's solo career has never reached the success he had as frontman for the Boomtown Rats which split in the 1980s.

As well as Rome, Live 8 will be held in London, Paris, Berlin, Philadelphia, Tokyo, Toronto and Johannesburg. An organiser for the Italian event said the global show would open in London with U2 and Paul McCartney performing together.

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The secret Downing Street memo - Sunday Times - Times Online

The secret Downing Street memo - Sunday Times - Times Online

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Actress Anne Bancroft dies

Actress Anne Bancroft dies - Yahoo! UK & Ireland News

A graduate of the same Bronx high school from which I graduated, and one of my favorite actresses of all time. Rest in peace.

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Perchance to Dream

I had one of those really "real" dreams last night; more like a nightmare actually.

I dreamt about my office; only the remodeling was still going on. There were hundreds more people; new people working there; and of course none of them had anything to do. In order to accommodate all these new people, the office was being reconfigured again, only this time I was being reassigned.

In place of my office, I found myself in a bare cubicle. At first, I wasn't alarmed. It was dark, but self-contained. Then I realized there were at least five other people sharing this tiny cubicle with me. I was no longer near a window; had no private office and began to panic that I'd never be able to write amidst all the noise generated from so many people with nothing to do all day.

Then I walked around and saw people jammed into tiny spaces everywhere I turned. All the rooms were small and full of people. I didn't know what any of them did.

It dawned on me that the "bully squad" had finally got their revenge on me. I was utterly humiliated and set out to call my union but since I no longer had privacy I looked for a place to make a call with my cellphone. I walked down the hallways and saw more and more people.....got angrier and sadder, and then I woke.

So disturbing was this dream that as I struggled to wake, it took several moments for me to realize that it never happened. Several more moments passed before I recognized how lucky I am to be out of that place.

Buster

I Hate and Despise ...[you fill in the blank]

When I was in high school, it was the fashion for a short while to carry clipboards instead of looseleaf binders. I still have mine and you can still see the faint pencil marks on the clip where I wrote, "I despite and hate geometry," and the even clearer pencil marks on the board where I wrote, "....lousy minutes left," to count off the remaining moments of mathematical torture.

Geometry was a piece of cake compared to the agony of keeping a computer up and running these days. I've been futzing around on mine since about 8 a.m. and since it's just before 8 p.m. as I write this, I've spent a full 12 hours in total frustration, aggravation, and anger.

The first lesson I will offer it that whatever goes wrong is usually something very simple; and probably obvious, but not until after you've spent hours on it.

This morning I turned on the computer to check emails before I got dressed. I couldn't get my DSL to connect. I tried all the things they tell you to do. Plug, unplug, power up, reboot, etc. Nothing worked. After 45 minutes, I broke down and called my provider.

After trying to negotiate with the all too perky voice of some female robot pretending to be human, I finally got a real person. I was very nasty; he was very calm and nice. At some point, I realized that the plugs were in the wrong holes. Two days ago, the last time I lost service, I unplugged and then replugged only to discover that, in fact, my internet provider was experiencing problems with DSL service. I must've switched the plugs accidentally. I apologized profusely for being nasty and hung up. I was back online.

Then I receive a notice that one of my software packages required an update, I downloaded and discovered the update did not work and nothing I did would fix it. I tried to remove the program but when I tried to reload an earlier version, it wouldn't let me. I ended up doing a system restore, which fixed that problem.

It was already 11:30 am by this time, and I was due somewhere at noon. I rushed out of the house only to find that the network adapter I had ordered for my TIVO had arrived. Rather than wait, I decided I'd plug it in and leave. How long could that take?

That was only the beginning of four more hours of trial and tribulations. At first I thought they must've sent me the wrong thing because I couldn't imagine how an Ethernet plug would fit. I was beside myself. I tried every which way and finally opened the manual. Yes, apparently there was a way. After about an hour, I figured that one.

I plugged the thing in.....nothing, niente, zippo. No connection.

Another couple of hours. [I called to cancel my original plans; I was in too deep. I couldn't leave in full snit.] This time, I hadn't pushed the doo-hickey in far enough and the cables had to be unplugged and plugged again a few more times; I had to boot up and down, etc. Finally!

I rebooted my computer only something was horribly wrong. My system tray wasn't working anymore. I booted, rebooted, and I knew the software was there, but I couldn't control it.

The Tivo recognized the network, but according to the manual, my computer should've been looking for new hardware. Needless to say, it wasn't. I spent another 40 minutes on that and then gave up to concentrate on my system tray problem.

Nothing was working. I searched all the knowledge bases and manuals at my disposal. Another system restore was the only thing I could think of that I hadn't tried. But I had already restored; would there be another suitable date?

I took the next previous date; noticed that I hadn't done any monkeying around and invoked the restore point. Hallelujah! Everything seemed to be working again.

So I closed the computer and decided to call it a day.

A few minutes later, I realized I needed to get back online. I wanted to print something. I booted up.

The network wasn't working ... again. This time it was the plugs.

I printed what I wanted and shut the system down again, made myself the first food I've eaten since breakfast, and realized I had promised myself to write everyday only I hadn't today.

So here I am. And for the moment, all is fine. Fingers crossed!

What a Dream

I happened upon this documentary. It's about a young Jewish woman who tries to regain her Hassidic father's attention by schlepping through post-war Hungary looking for a couch that belonged to the family. The story of Pearl Gluck's Divan is a metaphor for assimilation in America. Tousled-haired, Yiddish-speaking, courageous Gluck is torn between the simple comforts of an unquestioning Hassidic world in Boro Park, Brooklyn, New York and the enticements of a secular, and oh-so-questioning Jewish intellectualism I associate with the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

The former shtetls in Hungary surrounded by forests of birch trees that she filmed are probably very much like the Petrikow from where my own father came. The admonitions she received from her father and his Hassidic brethren to marry, tame her hair, and be quiet are also very familiar. I ached watching her reconnect with her father recognizing the silent joy in spending time just laughing and talking.

But for some reason, all this made me dream of Nazis. In my dream it was the day before I knew the Nazis were going to take over again. I wanted to get out. I saw city buses passing my street; all of them going to freedom, but I wouldn't leave without my family. And then an Aryan-looking man arrived with a clipboard and called out my name.

My heart was pounding; I was frightened; there were brutal murders, gratuitious violence and blood-soaked bodies that seemed commonplace. There was more to the dream, a lot of it inexplicable, but that's the gist.

I see this lovely young woman and the collection of former Hasids who are her friends and I realize she could be the daughter I never had; and I wonder why.

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Deep Throat Revealed

Not too long ago, I knew all the nooks and crannies of Washington, D.C. From 1974 to 1978, I worked in the NEA Building which was right across the street from the Washington Post. My friends and I frequented the same outdoor cafe on Dupont Circle that was frequented by Carl Bernstein. One balmy summer evening I was seated at an adjoining table and watched him write furiously onto a yellow legal pad. I've always imagined that it was an early draft of All the President's Men. Months later, Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman were camped for days in huge movie trailers right outside the Dupont Circle building.

When Bob Woodward had a byline in the Post on a topic other than Watergate, there was something in his story that I thought needed elaboration. I picked up the phone, dialed the paper and asked to speak to him. To my complete surprise, within seconds, I was speaking to him.

I had neither fear nor too many failures then. Those were heady days, indeed! Washington, D.C. was the center of the universe. I was on the social fringe of some of the most influential people of those times. I have sat in the living rooms of Michael Straight, Liz Carpenter; broke bread with Joseph Rauh; rejected the sexual advances of Mendel Rivers and Ken Gray; smoked dope with major congressional players; partied with nationally syndicated columnists.

Watergate was the watershed of my generation. I stayed home from work to watch John Dean testify.

But now 30 years later, there's something very unsettling about Mark Felt revealing his identity as Deep Throat. It goes with the changes in this country, I think. Look at all the Watergate felons who are calling Felt a traitor. The United States is sliding down a very slippery slope, I fear. We were the cradle of democracy and all that is right; now we're becoming the cesspool of "spin," "might makes right," and "let them eat cake."

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Give Me an 'Effin Break

Another opportunity for over-privileged, overpaid giant egos to pat themselves on the back for doing nothing extraordinary. I'm old enough to remember "Hands Across America" to end poverty. The self-congratulatory organizers collected millions never managed to distribute the funds. If these people were interested in ending poverty they'd be doing something that mattered.

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