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BBC News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Club where Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie played commemorated by book
A book to celebrate the 60th anniversary of a club that brought music legends to Cheltenham is being Gone To The Moon was written by Richard Goddard, Dave Jackson, Chris Stanbury and Mike Williams, who are former members of the Blue Moon Club. The High Street venue attracted music fans from all over the country, as well as from the US. Jimi Hendrix, Sir Elton John and David Bowie, who were all relatively unknown at the time, were just some of the artists who performed during the two-year period the venue was open for. Mr Williams said "it was that buzz of being among people that were all likeminded" that made the club so special. Former members still reunite a few times every year to dance and listen to music from the Williams was there on the opening night, which was headlined by the Bo Street Runners, a London R&B band."Their claim to fame was Mick Fleetwood was their drummer," he said."He went on to play for Fleetwood Mac of course, but we never saw or heard from them again." One of the most famous nights in the Blue Moon's two years came in February 1967, when Jimi Hendrix Goddard jumped the queue, which trailed back to The Promenade."I went along having heard him on the radio, he was up-and-coming," he said."We got in but it was absolutely rammed. The capacity was about 350 or 360 but there was over 700 in there." The Blue Moon Club closed in May 1967 after the owners decided to change than 500 members of the club came forward to contribute to the book."The publisher basically said 'Stop', we were putting too much into it and he's prompted us with a few ways we could go forward, something like a second edition," Mr Goddard said."A lot of people have put a lot of effort into giving us this information."
New York Post
5 days ago
- Sport
- New York Post
No one escapes scrutiny on the New York sports scene, especially these franchise linchpins
'Well, here you are, in the ninth, two men out and three men on. Nowhere to look, but inside, where we all respond to PRESSURE.' Now, I would have preferred to use lyrics from the better and more meaningful song — 'Under Pressure' by Queen and David Bowie — but the sports metaphor in Billy Joel's 1980s hit 'Pressure' was a better fit to get us into the following exercise for today's newsletter. Wednesday was that rare day on the yearly sports calendar with no games scheduled in MLB, the NBA, the NFL and the NHL. (Yes, there was a full slate in both MLS and the WNBA, so no angry emails, please!) But we decided to use the inactivity to break down those local sports figures facing the most pressure for the remainder of 2025, beginning with the second half of the baseball season for the Yankees and the Mets:
Toronto Sun
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Forty years later, a chance encounter in Montreal made Live Aid 'worth it' for Bob Geldof
The co-founder of the 1985 benefit concert said an Ethiopian man thanked him for saving his life. Published Jul 15, 2025 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 1 minute read Bob Geldof on stage during the curtain call at the "Live Aid" 40th Anniversary Gala at at the Shaftesbury Theatre on July 13, 2025 in London, and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Bob Geldof was visiting Montreal last fall when he met a man who thanked him not only for Live Aid, but credited him for saving his life. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The co-founder of the 1985 benefit concerts recounted the touching interaction in a recent interview ahead of the historic event's 40th anniversary. Live Aid, which was held simultaneously in London and Philadelphia, raised millions of dollars for famine relief in Ethiopia. The 16-hour, star-studded fundraiser included sets from Queen, David Bowie and U2. 'Last November in Montreal, my wife ordered breakfast. She got a call saying 'Is it all right, I'm not your normal waiter guy, can I come and say hello to your husband?'' Geldof told CNN. The worker greeted him before standing up straight and saying 'I wanted to thank you very much.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. He detailed how Band Aid, the charity group founded by the Irish singer-songwriter, helped him as a young boy in Ethiopia. 'He said 'I had no idea who my parents are,'' Geldof said. 'He said 'They died, but someone put me in a Band Aid hospital and Band Aid paid to make me better. And then I was brought up in a Band Aid orphanage. 'And he said 'I made my way to Paris and I studied catering' and he said 'And I came here.'' Geldof congratulated him and asked more about his life, including whether he is married and has a family. The worker said he was married to an Ethiopian woman and showed parts of his life on his phone. The man paused when he put his phone back in his pocket, Geldof said. 'And then he just ran forward and clutched me,' Geldof said. It wasn't quite a hug, but Geldof said the man buried his head in his chest, saying 'Thank you for my sons. Thank you for my life.' 'So even if it was for that guy, just that guy, if it was just for him, 40 years — worth it,' Geldof said. NFL Editorial Cartoons Canada Toronto & GTA Columnists
San Francisco Chronicle
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Live Aid turns 40: Full 1985 concert now streaming online
Four decades after the globe-spanning benefit concert reshaped humanitarian fundraising, fans can now revisit Live Aid in its entirety. The complete 1985 broadcast — featuring unforgettable performances by Queen, U2, David Bowie, Paul McCartney and Madonna — is now streaming for free on YouTube and the Internet Archive. The effort was preceded by the star-studded charity single 'Do They Know It's Christmas?,' recorded under the name Band Aid and featuring Bono, George Michael, Duran Duran, Sting, and many others. The initiative even inspired the stage musical 'Just for One Day,' currently playing in London's West End. Live Aid took shape in a matter of weeks after Geldof saw a harrowing BBC news report about the famine. On July 13, 1985, nearly 2 billion viewers around the world tuned in as the concerts unfolded simultaneously at Wembley Stadium and JFK Stadium, a staggering logistical feat driven by a singular urgency. 'Naivety is a wonderful thing,' Ure told the Chronicle earlier this year. 'It emboldens you. Nothing's impossible when you're in your 20s. It enables you to think beyond the realms of possibility. I think if we tried to do it today, it would fall flat on its face.' In Philadelphia, legendary Bay Area concert promoter Bill Graham oversaw the U.S. production — arguably the crowning achievement of his career. 'The most awesome change I always see in life is what happens to you when you make it, who you become,' Graham said in a 1985 interview with the Chronicle. To mark the 40th anniversary, CNN is streaming a four-part docuseries, 'Live Aid: When Rock 'n' Roll Took Over the World.' The series blends rare archival footage with new interviews from key figures including Bono, Sting and Geldof. A BBC companion series, 'Live Aid at 40: When Rock 'n' Roll Took on the World,' takes a similarly expansive and, at times, critical view, highlighting the contradictions and compromises behind the scenes. 'Queen were completely, utterly brilliant,' Geldof told the New York Times last week. 'But the telephone lines collapsed after David Bowie performed.' Both documentaries do not shy away from Live Aid's moral ambiguities. Each examines how money was distributed, the motivations of its celebrity participants and the blurry boundary between activism and performance. Yet the day remains unparalleled in cultural memory — a moment when rock music, however flawed, dared to take on the world. It also reminds us how much has changed. '(Elon) Musk said that the great weakness of Western civilization is empathy,' Geldof said. 'You fool. Empathy is the glue of humanity. It is the basis of civilization.'
Irish Times
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Live Aid spurred me into becoming a GOAL volunteer on the ground in Africa
I was just one of many who were moved to action by the Live Aid concert 40 years ago and that harrowing video segment, introduced by David Bowie, of huge suffering in a world of plenty set to the song Drive by the Cars. It planted a seed which led me to board a plane to Khartoum in 1986 as a GOAL volunteer, with £10,000 sterling strapped to my waist, necessary hard currency for the agency's running expenses. The plane landed late at night, and the equatorial heat hit me immediately as I struggled my way across the tarmac, sweating profusely, burdened as I was with a jacket containing a bottle of contraband whiskey. I wasn't a doctor, a nurse or a logistician. I was on a year's leave of absence from the Irish Press and my brief was to help write donor reports and newspaper articles on GOAL's work and generally to make myself useful. READ MORE By the time I got there in 1986, the great hunger that had swept the horn of Africa in 1984, had abated. Happily ensconced in the GOAL house in Khartoum, I had a false sense that the worst was over as I perused a well-thumbed copy of Bob Geldof's autobiography Is that it? The office work of an aid agency reliant on funding from the European Union et al is drudgery of a high order so at any opportunity I accompanied GOAL nurses on their expeditions into the slums around Khartoum where they provided desperately poor people with the only health services available to them. I was never proficient enough in the art of home brew to become a member of the KGB or the Khartoum Guild of Brewers, set up to circumvent the local ban on alcohol, and which bestowed the blasphemous title Defender of Sharia on whoever offered up the worst beer for tasting. In those days, a GOAL volunteer got full board and $15 a month. Any traveller's cheques I had were stolen soon after my arrival, so any social outings had to be at someone else's expense. Luckily the GOAL nurses always had plenty of invites to expat parties and would bring me along with them. I saw Crocodile Dundee in a free screening on the roof of Khartoum's oldest hotel, the Acropole, a home from home for aid workers, journalists and archaeologists, with reliable phones and telex machines, run by George Pagoulatos and his extended Greek family. Behind reception, they proudly displayed a love letter from Bob Geldof on Band Aid headed notepaper to George and staff in which he makes light of the hotel's lack of material comforts. Despite the shambolic state of the roads and footpaths, the appalling heat and mosquitos, and the squatter encampments that ringed the more affluent urban centre, Khartoum had a certain other worldly charm. It lies at the confluence of the Blue and White Niles with a street plan in the shape of a Union Jack. In the evening it was pleasant to walk the tree lined riverbank dotted with kiosks and drink an ice-cold soda. Khartoum was untouched by war except for the stories brought to the city by refugees fleeing conflict and repression in neighbouring Eritrea and Ethiopia, and the civil war that would give birth to South Sudan. And then there was Darfur. A mechanic and I delivered a new vehicle, 1,500 kms across the desert, to the GOAL operation in El Geneina, Darfur, which supported a local midwifery school and provided outreach to remote settlements including refugees along the border with Chad. It was a hair-raising three-day drive. We stopped at El Daein train station in east Darfur and saw the remains of the wagons where hundreds of Dinkas were burned alive in a massacre carried out a few weeks earlier in March 1987 by a local Arab tribe, the Muraheleen militia. It was a reminder of how isolated Khartoum was then from the mayhem in other parts of the country. The Muraheleen became part of the dreaded Janjaweed, a militia armed by the government and held responsible for a death toll possibly as high as 300,000 and the displacement of millions in ethnic cleansing across Darfur some 20 years ago. They morphed into the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) who fell out with government forces and took the proud, once inviolate city of Khartoum in April 2023 committing war crimes on a scale hard to comprehend and destroying many of Khartoum's institutions including the humble Acropole Hotel which the Pagoulatos family had run for 71 years and where GOAL and other aid agencies collected their mail. After 50 years or more of warfare, Sudan's ruin now seems complete. The sacking of Khartoum and the withdrawal of all support by the country's biggest aid donor, the US, means that Sudan risks becoming the world's largest hunger crisis in recent history as famine takes hold and 24.6 million people, almost half the population face food insecurity. Last year the US gave $830 million to keep four million people alive in Sudan. Withdrawing that funding is a very perverse way to mark the 40th anniversary of Live Aid which helped create the mood music – no pun intended – for George Bush, Tony Blair and other G8 leaders to forgive debt and increase aid to Africa on Live Aid's 20thanniversary. That seems so long ago.
