Live 8 - ONE for the Record Books

Live 8 Philadelphia 8:45 AM Local Time

Phew. Live 8 in Philly has just wrapped up outside our door (though the same crew of drunken twenty-somethings that has been sitting in the lawn since before noon is still out there, pissed as farts). We took a ride around the festivities at about 8:30 this morning to survey the scene, and even at that hour, the crowd was pretty thick. We rode down the Parkway to the strains of "Beautiful Day" blasting over the mammoth sound system, and I think I got my first round of chills of the day. I had the same feeling that I have gotten every time I have pulled in at 5 AM for the MS 150 ride - verklepmt! There is something so moving about seeing so many people come together for a common cause.

In a weird bit of serendipity, as I was cleaning out my closet during the afternoon in preparation for our move later this week, I came across my wee photo album from Live Aid twenty years ago - some blurry 3x3 prints taken with a crappy Instamatic 126. (Jesus, we are all getting old.) I remember that day so vividly, and today so many of the memories came back. It's a sad commentary, I guess, that 20 years later, so much of Africa still hangs on the edge of despair, but I can't help but be inspired by what happened today around the world. Let's hope our leaders do the right thing in Edinburgh.

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