Another Year...

2009 brought its fair share of disappointments and challenges, but we end on a positive note.

I'll see you on the beach.

...more Band-Aids...

Here is the 12" (extended) version. No actual video, but the full audio. Worth listening to for Phil Collins' drum solo and the assorted comments that begin at 2:50.

...and there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime...

This tune got some attention back in 1984. Can you believe it's been 25 years?

Nowadays, it's easy to cynically dismiss humanitarian efforts by entertainment megastars as grandstanding at worst, or politically naive at best, and in most cases one or both are correct. However, I must admit I felt a little different about the whole Band-Aid effort. To my knowledge, it was the first recording by a supergroup specifically for the purposes of charity, and certainly the first for this generation of musicians. It's hard to question Bob Geldof's sincerity, particularly since he's given up much of his musical career for the sake of causes greater than himself, and Do They Know It's Christmas? was where it all started.

We Are The World and Live Aid would follow within a year, and before the decade was over we'd see Farm-Aid, Ferry-Aid, and various other permutations.

The slippery slope theory held true, and the sincerity of the celebrities became diluted almost immediately, but Geldof and his pals deserve credit not only for inventing the charity single (and reinvigorating the concept of a benefit concert) but also for giving a generation of self-absorbed stars -- including the one who first appears at 1:24 -- at least something of a conscience.

Finally, it's refreshing to hear the word "Christmas" used so freely in a completely secular recording. And it still gives me chills -- maybe because of where I was in 1984, or maybe because it's an absolutely brilliant song.