As you know, I have been a big critic of one Mr. Kanye West—and Jesus knows he has given me plenty of reason—but I do give credit where credit is due.
On August 30 in Philadelphia and August 31 in L.A., the Budweiser Made in America Festival will take place. Held to benefit the United Way, Kanye, who had previously been confirmed as the Saturday night headliner of the flagship fest in Philly, now entering its third year, will perform alongside main stage acts like The National, Steve Aoki, J. Cole, and Chromeo. After his performance, he’ll head to L.A. to headline with John Mayer and Juanes on Sunday.
The inaugural event was held on September 1–2, 2012 at Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia and attracted nearly 80,000 people, grossing $5 million in ticket sales. Philadelphia city officials reported that the festival generated at least $10 million for the city and covered all municipal costs associated with the event. While I will hold my breath and hope the West Wind doesn’t blow in a preacher’s direction, leaving that to the rapper slapper in sandals from Galilee, it’s good to see Kanye and all the excellent stars involved in this going out to help people.
Remember the giant sinkhole in Siberia that suddenly appeared? It seems my speculation that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were going to break out in a fiery fury and head hell-bent for the Westboro Baptist Church is not going to happen. Scientists are convinced, though, that the sinkhole opened up because of global warming, the phenomenon that 21% of all Republican politicians refuse to believe. In fact, the pols probably won’t change their stance until they are standing in freezing glacier water up to their Yoo-Hoos. Now that’s real numb nuts for you, the opposite of fiery fury but perhaps scarier.
Speaking of ice water, Rachel Maddow, an MSNBC commentator I particularly like, did the water bucket thing—you know, where you accept a challenge to allow a bucket of freezing ice water to be dumped over your head in exchange for a donation to one of your charities. I’m all in favor of giving, but I’m not sure self-flagellation with ice water makes my charity more worthy. It does make the dumpee more human, though, at least for that moment, and maybe that’s the appeal.
In the blog last week I promised a story in the podcast about Linda Ronstadt “maybe” being the first person I ever played on the air, and I forgot to do that. But there will be that and oh so much more, including a few words about Bob Rivers, B.J. Shea, and Mark Zuckerberg,in this week’s get together on the shores of Rambling Harbor. Join me there and give a listen.