Thirtysomething

Philadelphia Freedom or Why Kanye's an Idiot

I was wrong.

Live 8 wasn't the end of the world. We went in the afternoon for a few hours and hung out on the circle. It was crowded, but not insanely crowded. People were rowdy, but not overly rowdy. The only thing as far as I could tell that were destroyed were the porto-potties, because people insisted on sitting on top of them. We were fairly close to the front of the crowd, so we didn't see much by the way of educating people about the Long Walk to Justice. Although, I hear if you were further back, there were stands set up with information.

I saw Dave Matthews, Linkin Park and Jay-Z, Def Leppard, Jars of Clay, and some dude we didn't know. I missed Jovi, Sarah and Maroon 5, which didn't make me happy, but Ron had to work later than expected. I also missed Kanye West, WHICH WAS JUST FINE BECAUSE HE'S AN IDIOT. I saw him interviewed on MTV by MC Lyte, an interview that will not be replayed no doubt, because in it he states that he wanted to perform at Live 8 to make up for injustices in the world. Because, according to my man Kanye, HIV is a disease invented by the white man and planted in Africa to wipe out all the Africans. Oh, and crack was introduced to urban settings to kill African Americans, particularly those of the Black Panther party. I swear, I do not lie, he said all this. I mean, these are all rumors that I've heard before too, but I've dismissed them as just that: rumors. I certainly wouldn't be dumb enough to be repeating them as fact on TV. WHATEVER, KANYE. I'm desperately looking for some mention of the interview online, but I doubt I'll find it. I'll post a link if I do.

ANYWAY, we met up with a group of friends and after a couple of hours of the concert, we made our way to the Fairmont bars. They were, of course, packed. Outside the London Grille, there were table and chairs set up and a stand selling cans of beer. In order to buy a 12 pack, they would give you a ticket and a black plastic bag and you would go down the street to present your ticket to a guy in a truck who would, in turn, give you a 12 pack of Bud, or some equally crappy beer. Sounds legit, right? We spent the rest of the afternoon drinking cans of beer at a table in the middle of the street. The cops were about 50 yards away and couldn't have cared less.

All was good in the world.

Sunday we hung out with Ron's parents and we went to see Elton John play on the 4th of July. He got a late start, but was worth the wait. He played "The Bitch is Back", "Tiny Dancer", "Rocket Man", "I Guess that's Why They Call It the Blues" (my favorite Elton John song, by the way), and "Philadelphia Freedom". The fireworks were great, but didn't end until nearly 11:30pm.

I hate to admit it, but Philadelphia did a really good job this weekend.

posted by DJ Heavy D @ 6:01 AM