In other news, this is one of the best records most normal people have never heard:



Makes me wish I had a working record player.

No doubt, it's a noble cause, but these lineups leave a lot to be desired. It'd be nice to see a bit more hip-hop (and black artists in general) in the mix--and not just relegated to Philly.

If the Poor are in the line up for Edinburgh, I'll buy a ticket

Why is the article title so sarcastic?
I mean, it sounds like to me anyway that it's taking the piss out of Bob Geldof for doing this...

Long live Geldof. See you all in Edinburgh.

more power to you, bob. keep on keepin' on.

on another note, i wonder if Radiohead will be a part of this. it seems right up their alley.

I'm sure Bob's heart is in the right place, but poverty is only a symptom of Africa's problems.

Famine and drought, tribal enmity, religious strife, political corruption, the backward and archaic cultural preferences that propagate the spread of AIDS. A few stupid concerts won't do anything to alleviate the causes that truly prevent Africa from attaining any level of peace or prosperity.

I don't have any answers, and I am not without empathy.

But Africa has had eons to get their shit together, the only thing holding them back is themselves.

yeah, that whole Western World Empire thing probably had nothing to do with where they are now.

Rather than begging the world's top producing countries for a financial hand-out, why not tie the forgiveness of debt to something substantial...like free democratic elections. The problems in Africa don't start with a burdensome debt load, they start with genocidal tyranny. Until those countries get to the "one person, one vote" stage, we could hand them half the world's GDP and it wouldn't change a damn thing.

Buy hey, let's not actually accomplish anything. Instead, we'll have a feel-good concert series so everyone involved can go home that night, patting themselves on the back for getting "involved".

Yeah, white guilt's a bitch, isn't it?

Despite your insistence, not everything in the world is America's fault.

well, (and this comment goes to Michael_DeSade as well) as much as i loathe the term "white guilt", it does illustrate a point: what do you do when you wake up one day and realize that your entire culture and society has been built on the backs of people you exploited and subjugated and now your foreign policy is keeping things that way?

things like this might have a "feel good" effect, but really don't think that's their intended aim. likewise, i don't think that giving them a financial handout is what bob and co. are going for. simple awareness can be a very powerful tool. especially when a large portion of the people in this country are either willfully uninformed or just don't care about africa's plight. what other recourse do we have? personally, i would prefer a world summit with all the western nations offering any aid they can muster, but a big concert is certainly a good step.

additionally, i trust bob geldof and bono to do more to help african poverty and famine than i trust our current leader. he's already shown me he doesn't give a damn.

i didn't say it was america's fault. but to deny the western world any responsiblity for africa's current plight is utter revisionist bullshit. if america (and the rest of the west) would stand up to the plate once in a while and be the beacon of hope and freedom that it purports to be, maybe i wouldn't have to be disgusted with its hypocracy so fucking often.

I understand that the President may think so, but America isn't the sole member of the Western World...

You're absolutely right. I'd blame most of Africa's historical problems on the French and the British.