Rock and Roll for the Privileged Few?

Last Wednesday I was thrilled to finally get a Verified Fan code to purchase tickets for Springsteen on Broadway. I’ve been a Springsteen fan since about the 8th grade, and I was so excited about this series when it was announced, and I registered for the Verified Fan service as soon as I could. This was the third round of ticketing for the extended Broadway run, but the first time I’d gotten the coveted invitation to buy tickets. I was in the third group allowed to purchase tickets starting at noon.

I was in a meeting I couldn’t get out of that precise moment, but within 15 minutes I was online and trying to get into the site. New York is only 3.5 hours from here, and I have a huge amount of unused vacation time, so I was ready to go any day. I started with my birthday, October 17, looking for tickets for myself and a friend. There were no tickets, so I began trying other dates, especially Wednesdays and Thursdays thinking it might be easier to get tickets for those than Friday or Saturday. Continue reading

Music, My Education, and Amnesty International

Conspiracy of Hope Poster

Conspiracy of Hope Poster

I’m watching the DVD of the “A Conspiracy of Hope” Concert in Giant’s Stadium in 1986. The all-day concert was the last in a ten-day series to raise money for and awareness of the work done by Amnesty International, and it featured folk acts Joan Baez and Peter, Paul, and Mary; Jazz artists artists like Mary Joni Mitchell, the Neville Brothers and Miles Davis; Latin and World Music stars like Ruben Blades, Carlos Santana and Fela Kuti; and some of the biggest artists of the day like Lou Reed, U2 and the Police. One of the highlights for me is Peter Gabriel’s performance of “Biko”, an powerful song that tells the story of a South African anti-apartheid activist who died in detention in 1977.

That song moved me so deeply I had to find out more. Continue reading

Amnesty International's 50th, 80+ Acts, 76 Dylan Songs, $20, 5+ hours… No Matter How You Count, It Equals Awesome


Amnesty International is one of the most important human rights organizations operating in the world today, and it celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year. Started in 1961 with a worldwide “Appeal for Amnesty” on behalf of individuals imprisoned for the peaceful expression of their beliefs written by British lawyer Peter Benenson, the movement now counts more than 3 million people worldwide.

What better way to celebrate this milestone anniversary than with an album of songs by a man whose songs include the anthems “I Shall Be Released” and “Chimes of Freedom”?  Bob Dylan has long been a supporter of Amnesty International, and Chimes of Freedom was also the unofficial anthem for the amazing Human Rights Now Tour, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1988.
The collection is available now directly from Amnesty International, on iTunes, or at Amazon.  I downloaded the digital tracks, 76 of them, for $19.99 and it’s the best $20 I’ve spent in recent memory.  I’m not exaggerating.  By and large it’s great music, but more on that in a minute.  Let’s get some math out of the way first, if you’re budget conscious like me.  I don’t buy much music these days.  For the most part, I rely on a subscription service, Rhapsody, for my music.  I only purchase music when there’s are really good reason to.  This is worth buying, a bargain by any standards.
It is a 76 song digital download for $19.99, or 4 CDs for $24.99.  Moreover, all profits go to help Amnesty International in its work.  That’s well over 5 hours of music and the satisfaction of helping out one of my favorite causes, for the price of two album downloads on iTunes.  Your average digital LP on iTunes or most other legal sites is usually $9.99 (increasingly $11.99) and it usually includes 10-12 songs.  This is 76 songs.  If that were sold at 12 songs per record , it would be 6 1/3 records.  Nobody like fractions, so let’s just say this collection equals 6 iTunes LPs + 4 free bonus tracks.   If Amnesty International were a record label and not a human rights nonprofit, they’d have known to more slickly market this collection typical price of $59.94, but tell us it’s on sale now for $19.99,  $24.99 for the 4 CDs.  Then we’d know we’re getting a bargain!
Of course it’s only a bargain if the music is good.  It could contain twice as many tracks, but if you only like 9 of them, then you still don’t want to pay $20.
So then, is it any good?
Continue reading

Amnesty Details Violations in Gaza Assault

This article from the Financial Times, summarizes the findings of an Amnesty International report on the Israeli invasion of Gaza in January. It is a must read.
The Israeli invasion into Gaza was launched in response to the launching of Qassam rockets into Israel by HamasThe report sternly denounces these attacks and

urges Hamas to renounce its policy of unlawful rocket attacks against civilian population centres in Israel and to prevent other armed groups from carrying out such attacks.

While the rockets have killed less than 20 people in Israel, the psychological effect and destruction of property has been devastating. Moreover, the rockets have no guidance system and can only be lobbed indiscriminately, recklessly endangering civilians.
But the bulk of the report’s criticism is directed at Israel for its excessive use of force. It is worth quoting Amnesty’s statement regarding the report at some length.

The scale and intensity of the attacks on Gaza were unprecedented. Some 300 children and hundreds of other unarmed civilians who took no part in the conflict were among the 1,400 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.
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Amnesty International found that the victims of the attacks it investigated were not caught in the crossfire during battles between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces, nor were they shielding militants or other military objects. Many were killed when their homes were bombed while they slept. Others were sitting in their yard or hanging the laundry on the roof. Children were struck while playing in their bedrooms or on the roof, or near their homes. Paramedics and ambulances were repeatedly attacked while attempting to rescue the wounded or recover the dead.
“The deaths of so many children and other civilians cannot be dismissed simply as ‘collateral damage’, as argued by Israel,” said Donatella Rovera. “Many questions remain to be answered about these attacks and about the fact that the strikes continued unabated despite the rising civilian death toll.”
More than 3,000 homes were destroyed and some 20,000 damaged in Israeli attacks which reduced entire neighbourhoods of Gaza to rubble and left an already dire economic situation in ruins. Much of the destruction was wanton and could not be justified on grounds of “military necessity”.

The Israeli Army has rejected the report saying it is “unbalanced, and wrongly interprets the law of wars.”
The full text of the report can be downloaded here (PDF).