It was 1971, and an effort was
underway to raise awareness of, and fund relief for, refugees from
The brainchild of former Beatle,
George Harrison, and sitarist Ravi Shankar, this endeavor would become to be
known as the Concert for
August 1, 1971 was the date of this concert which sold seats for $10, while general admission was $2.50 – a kingly sum in the early 1970’s – when gasoline sold for 33¢ per gallon, and minimum wage was $1.60 per hour.
Two shows were performed by
numerous big-name musical artists for 40,000 attendees. The gate was $250,000. But soon thereafter, the Concert for
This effort was so successful that it inspired later concerts: Live Aid, and Farm Aid. Live Aid proceeds were earmarked for an Ethiopian famine, while Farm Aid earnings were to help suffering small American farmers.
And, as recently as 2001, the
Concert for
The common theme in all these fund raisers is pretty simple. Organizers gather people with talent to perform for cash that eventually goes to helping specific suffering groups of people.
Disasters such as massive fires, flooding, hurricane and tornado devastation, as well as earthquakes, all inspire others to help in desperate times and dire situations.
Until today, music TV stations and radio conglomerates rerun the above-mentioned concerts for historic and continued fund-raising efforts.
Being personally unsure as to both the beginning and the end of when an event turns into a disaster, I’m writing this from a viewpoint of compassion. And what does this have to do with continued fund raising?
Fifty-one years later, the
pressed LPs turned into CDs, and the movie has been transformed into DVDs, all
still collecting monies that hopefully wind-up going to the Concert for
This decidedly noble effort should be heeded today inasmuch as tough times have been plaguing not only Americans, but many other countries around the world.
When tragedies occur invariably seemingly everyone with a guitar or piano finds inspiration to write a song.
Following the death of Princess
Diana, Elton John re-wrote his song Candle in the Wind, to honor this beloved
icon. Countless songs played on the
radio after the
There are plenty of hungry, poor, homeless, and ill people who, after an international pandemic, now find themselves in bad situations unable to find shelter or feed their families.
Although today’s minimum wage hovers around $15 per hour, gasoline has jumped to between $4 and $7 per gallon, while intentionally created inflation is peaking at 40-year highs, all in an effort to ‘alter the weather’ via climate change.
Hurricane Katrina devastated
portions of
Hurricane warning flags
The obvious question is “Where
are the concerts, legitimate fundraisers, and charitable efforts to assist with
these catastrophes in the
No one – to the best of my knowledge – is writing songs, performing concerts, or extending helping hands to the victims of these ill-timed disasters that affected literally millions of fellow Americans.
It seems as though time has arrived to forget child-like ambitions to be able to control and alter the weather, at the expense of newly homeless and destitute. At this moment in 2022, we must help one another as fellow citizens and neighbors, rather than act like spoiled, deserving brats.
Let’s put some of these
fund-raisers and acts of kindness to work helping the needy – currently in
