Entries from August 2004 ↓

The greatest of all rock charity shows, Live Aid was monumental in its’ scope, and its’ all-star lineup has yet to be duplicated. From Paul McCartney and U2, to Madonna and a re-united Led Zeppelin, the simultaneous shows which took place at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadlephia are now the stuff of legend.

Almost twenty years later, in an effort to raise funds for much needed relief in war-torn Sudan, concert organizer Bob Geldof has put together a spectacular four disc set scheduled for release in early November.

Here’s a breakdown of the tracklisting:

1. BBC News report including Michael Buerk’s report from Ethiopia
2. Band Aid “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (video)
3. USA for Africa “We Are The World” (video)
4. Status Quo “Rockin’ All Over the World”, “Caroline”
5. Style Council “Internationalists”, “Walls Come Tumbling Down”
6. Boomtown Rats “I Don’t Like Mondays”, “Drag Me Down”
7. Adam Ant “Vive Le Rock”
8. Ultravox “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes”, “Vienna”
9. Spandau Ballet “Only When you Leave”, “True”
10. Elvis Costello “All You Need Is Love”
11. Nik Kershaw “Wouldn’t It Be Good”
12. Sade “Your Love Is King”
13. Sting “Roxanne”
14. Phil Collins “Against All Odds”
15. Sting & Phil Collins “Every Breath You Take”
16. Howard Jones “Hide and Seek”
17. Bryan Ferry “Slave to Love”, “Jealous Guy”
18. Paul Young “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (acappella version), “Come Back and Stay”
19. Paul Young & Alison Moyet “That’s the Way Love Is”
20. Paul Young “Every Time You Go Away”
21. Bryan Adams “Kids Wanna Rock”, “Summer of 69″
22. U2 “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, “Bad”

DISC 2

1. Beach Boys “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”, “Good Vibrations”, “Surfin’ USA”
2. Dire Straits & Sting “Money For Nothing”
3. Dire Straits “Sultans of Swing”
4. George Thorogood & The Destroyers “Madison Blues”
5. Queen “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Radio Gaga”, “Hammer To Fall”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “We Will Rock You”, “We Are The Champions”
6. Simple Minds “Ghost Dancing”, “Don’t You Forget About Me”
7. David Bowie “TVC15″, “Rebel Rebel”, “Modern Love”, “Heroes”
8. CBC Footage (video) “Drive” by the Cars
9. Joan Baez “Amazing Grace”
10. Pretenders “Stop Your Sobbing”, “Chain Gang”, “Middle Of The Road”
11. The Who “Love Reign O’er Me”, “Won’t Get Fooled Again”
12. Kenny Loggins “Footloose”
13. Elton John “Bennie & The Jets”, “Rocket Man”
14. Elton John & Kiki Dee “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”
15. Elton John & George Michael “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”

DISC 3

1. Madonna “Holiday”, “Get Into The Groove”
2. Freddie Mercury & Brian May “Is This The World We Created?”
3. Paul McCartney “Let It Be”
4. Band Aid UK Finale “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
5. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers “American Girl”, “Refugee”
6. Black Sabbath feat. Ozzy Osbourne “Paranoid”
7. REO Speedwagon “Can’t Fight This Feeling”, “Roll With The Changes”
8. Crosby Stills and Nash “Teach Your Children”,
9. Judas Priest “Living After Midnight”, “Green Manalishi”
10. The Cars “Just What I Needed”, “Heartbreak City”
11. Neil Young “The Needle & The Damage Done”, “Nothing is Perfect (in God’s Perfect Plan)”
12. Thompson Twins, Steve Stevens, Nile Rodgers and Madonna “Revolution”
13. Eric Clapton “White Room”, “She’s Waiting”, “Layla”
14. Phil Collins (in Philadelphia) “In The Air Tonight”
15. Duran Duran “Union Of The Snake”, “Save A Prayer”, “The Reflex”
16. Patti Labelle “Imagine”, “Forever Young”

DISC 4

1. Hall &Oates “Maneater”
2. Hall &Oates with Eddie Kendricks “Get Ready (Cos Here I Come)”
3. Hall &Oates with Eddie Kendricks & David Ruffin “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg”, “My Girl”
4. Mick Jagger “Just Another Night”, “Miss You”
5. Mick Jagger and Tina Turner “State Of Shock”, “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll”
6. Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Ron Wood “Blowin’ In The Wind”
7. USA For Africa Finale “We Are The World”

Extras

1. INXS - from Australia “What You Need”, “Don’t Change”
2. B.B. King from North Sea Jazz Festival “Why I Sing The Blues”, “Don’t Answer The Door”, “Rock Me Baby”
3. Ashford & Simpson with Teddy Pendergrass “Reach Out And Touch”
4. Cliff Richard from London “A World Of Difference”
5. Bowie & Jagger “Dancing In The Street” (video)
6. Documentary: “Food and Trucks and Rock ‘n’ Roll”

Unfortunately, the Led Zeppelin peformance will not be featured, after Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones deemed it sub-par, and therefore not worthy of inclusion. Page and Plant have pledged to donate funds from their own upcoming DVD release to the Sudan relief effort.

All the best for a fantastic day Dad!

My lovely and talented girlfriend will be performing the role of “Third Lady” in Amato Opera’s production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflote, or as we say in English, “The Magic Flute.”

She will be appearing on the following dates:

Sun, Sept 12 - Matinee
Fri, Oct 8 - Evening
Sun, Oct 10 - Matinee

Anyone interested in attending any of the above performances, please check out Amato’s website:Amato Opera or you can feel free to contact me for details.

According to the Associated Press, writer/director Kevin Smith announced on Friday that he has begun work on a sequel to Clerks, the classic independent film which is celebrating it’s tenth anniversary this year.

The sequel picks up with Dante, Randall, Jay & Silent Bob in present day Red Bank, reports the Associated Press. “It’s about what happens when that lazy, 20-something malaise lasts into your 30s,” says Smith. “Those dudes are kind of still mired, not in that same exact situation, but in a place where it’s time to actually grow up and do something more than just sit around and dissect POP culture and talk about sex. It’s: What happened to these dudes?”

The sequel, titled The Passion of The Clerks, is set to begin shooting in January. Miramax Films, which distributed the first film, will do the same for the follow-up.

Smith is also writing the screenplay for The Green Hornet, but no longer thinks he will direct it. The Clerks sequel has moved to the top of his to-do list. Both O’Halloran and Anderson are signed on, and Jason Mewes will return as stoner Jay.

From CNN

Police: Bomb plot suspects scouted many sites

Two men charged with conspiring to blow up subway station

Saturday, August 28, 2004 Posted: 7:46 PM EDT (2346 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) — Two men arrested Friday on suspicion of plotting to blow up a New York City subway station had also scouted other locations in the city, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Saturday.

“It is important to stress that to the best of our knowledge, they had no ties to international terrorist organizations,” Kelly told reporters. He also said there is “no indication” their activities were related in any way to the Republication National Convention, which begins Monday in Manhattan.

The men believed a confidential police informant would provide them with explosives, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice. The informant never did so.

The men were arraigned Saturday in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn, on charges of conspiring to blow up the 34th Street subway station at Herald Square.

Herald Square is a shopping area in Midtown Manhattan near Macy’s and several other retail stores, at the intersection of Broadway and 34th Street. Eight of New York’s 25 subway routes run through Herald Square.

The men were identified as Shahawar Matin Siraj, 21, a native of Pakistan who lives in Jackson Heights in Queens, and James el-Shafay, 19, a U.S. citizen from the city’s Staten Island borough.

If convicted, Siraj and el-Shafay would face a prison sentence of from five to 20 years and a $250,000 fine.

Both men indicated they understood the charges. They were ordered held without bail, and another hearing date was not set.

El-Shafay’s mother wept during the court proceeding, and he blew kisses at her. She then passed prescription drugs to her son via his attorney, Tom Dunn, but was denied a chance to visit with him after court.

Outside the courthouse, a relative of el-Shafay said “We think that these charges are false.”

The men’s motive appeared to be “basically hatred for the system,” Kelly said. He said they talked about the commercial shops at the subway station, and also talked in general terms about explosives being placed at the 42nd Street station and the station at 59th Street and Lexington.

Kelly said the police department’s intelligence division had been investigating them for about a year. At one time, one of the men scouted three police stations and a bridge, and drew a map of the locations, he said. Last Saturday, they were seen visiting the Herald Square station, Kelly said.

CNN’s Jamie McShane, Jeanne Meserve and Deborah Feyerick contributed to this report.

Usual suspects score as Arsenal maintain perfect record.

Jose Reyes, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Dennis Bergkamp all scored for Arsenal today, powering the Gunners to a 4-1 victory over recently promoted Norwich City.

Justin Hoyte played in defense in replacement of scheduled starter Pascal Cygan who pulled a hamstring during pre-game warmups. This proved decisive as it was Hoyte’s inexperience that led to his commiting a penalty, taking down Norwich striker Darren Huckerby in the box, earning City a spot kick.

Huckerby converted it nicely, and at 3-1, Norwich were right back in the match. Arsenal seemed to have taken their foot of the gas in the second half, after having scored three unanswered first half goals. The homeside raised their tempo, but the Gunners held firm. Supersub Dennis Bergkamp drove the final nail in the coffin, scoring Arsenal’s fourth deep into stoppage time.

So, twelve points from a possible twelve. Chelski have achieved a perfect record as well, coming from a goal down today to beat Southampton at home. However, Arsenal have a goal difference of +11, whereas the blue scum have only a +5 difference.

Top of the table, and unbeaten in 44 league games, Arsenal now get a few weeks off due to World Cup Qualifying next week. The next match is away to Fulham on Sept. 11. Kickoff is 10 AM ET.