Back in 1985 I was still young. My first serious attack of bronchitis was still five months away. That bitch Thatcher was still in power. The music scene was abysmal. Wham, Spandu Ballet, Phil Collins, my skin still crawls. Back then I still believed in things like 'God & Country'. I sat down that afternoon with my fresh bought blank cassettes so I could bootleg the concert & sell the tapes later (I never did though). Instead a minor revoulution began in my thinking which would swiftly turn into a tital wave of changed perspectives.

I could no longer support the people who were causing such misery, who refused to help. There is no excuse for allowing so many to die every day through simple hunger. None at all.

One of the first things I noticed was that all the Hippie 'love & peace' folks were missing from the gig. It was my hero's, my generation, that was actually doing something. All the old 'punks' that were making the effort to change things. The so called uncaring yobs in 'society'.

So with the benefit of learning & hindsight what has changed since then ?

Very, very little.

You see those in control don't want things to improve for Africa. Those in control seem to all be working for the Klu Klux Klan. Remember the lyrics to Dead Kennedys 'California Uber Alles' ? Seems like prophecy now doesn't it ?

Live Aid proved to all of us that if the will is there we can put our arms around the world. We can achieve change. We can make a difference.

The developments in computers & other commincations equipment makes the job of organisation much easier. If the worlds leaders decided to put away their nasty war toys for a year or forever then not only the will but the finance & resources to feed, clothe, & house everyone on the planet can be achieved.

As a child I was brought up with the idea that the purpose of life was to continually learn new things and improve the lot of those in your family & wider community. I was taught that we are all here to learn from & help each other. I was taught that those in dire need were to be helped in whatever way it was possible to do so. Though it was never explained to me in terms of 'kama', that is what was meant & alluded to.

So, here we are twenty years later & things are so bad that Bob & Co have had no choice but to do it all over again & remind everybody what is important in life. But are they actually reaching people ?

Yes there was a great turnout at the gigs, but what was happening in the sleepy little towns & villages around the country ? Were the 'ordinary' people actually taking any notice ? Were they willing to do their bit to end this deplorable state of affairs ?

My real Grandma died on Christmas day just after I turned four. Higgy though, has always been my next best thing. She & my Mam did their basic nurse training together at Liverpool's Sefton General back in the 1950's. Higgy was older than the other girls. She was in her thirties then, the oldest in the class of new would be nurses. My Ma was just seventeen. Higgy & my Mam became life long friends. This was cemented at my birth, because back then single mothers were almost criminals. My real Grandma had been insisting that my Mam hide the pregnancy & give me up to adoption. A great rift between mother & daughter was the result with my Ma heading for the hills (Higgys) with me so she could put her world back together.

I spent the first six months of my life in one of Higgys dressing table draws because I was too big to fit in the cot they had ready for me. You think I'm rambling now I expect. 'Viper's off down memory lane.' Bear with me.

Higgy had her birthday party yesterday. She is 90 years young & as hale & hearty as she ever was. James came with me yesterday. He was doing the driving. On the way we fiddled with the radio & tuned into Radio 1 to catch the build up to the gig. We arrived half an hour later at Loggerheads Café for the birthday meal.

There were quite a number of people enjoying the sunshine, but none of them had a radio with them. Nobody was collecting donations. In fact had it not been for myself & James bringing up the subject of Live8 over our meal to our fellow guests, there would have been no aknowledgement of what was happening.

Loggerheads Pub

As the meal finished myself & James shot quickly across to the Loggerheads pub for a swift one. There was no television or radio tuned into the gig. The punters milling around the bar looked like the typical holiday maker types. All blotchy red patches of soon to be peeling sunburn which matched the colour of their eyes, daft short pants & loud T-shits. No mention at all of Live8. No radios tuned in. No car doors standing ajar so the owners can hear the gig on the car sound system. Nothing. Absloutly nothing. It was just another day in the pub for them.

Scene Behind The Loggerheads Cafe

We returned to the party about a quarter hour or so later. Photgraphs were being taken, the menfolk were milling around the doorway with ciggarettes as the sun beat down on us all. I thought back to 1985 when everybody was doing a little something to help Live Aid & all the pubs & shops had the concert playing in the background, or in some cases banging out. After that film of the starving was shown the first time with The Cars playing over the top of it you could see people in the street who were visibly shaken by the sight. Their faces had gone a sort of ashy white. Many found themselves re-examining their beliefs & values as a result. Some of us have never been the same since.

Returning home to my own little village we sang along to 'I Don't Like Mondays' on the car sound system & I had James drop me off at my local. The big screen usually reserved for football matches was today filled with the Live8 concert, and rightly so. Annie Lennox was running through classic Eurithmics tracks as I secured a cider. We stayed half an hour or so before I went home for a smoke. James went home, & I returned to the pub to watch the rest of the gig with a pint & some company.

On the way I passed a group of around ten young school lads playing footy in the street.

"You lot should be watching Live8.",

I quipped good naturedly as I passed.

"Your messin' lad. No one gives a shit about Live8. That's for old people.",

was the response.

So much for hoping the next generation will be more caring than the last. If Live8 is to be measured by its ability to raise peoples awareness of the tragedy of Africa in an attempt to bring about real change for the better then that kid & his pals show it up as a complete failure. The point has not come across. The public have decided 'no one gives a shit', that they just don't care.

………………… and that is the difference twenty years has made.

You tell me, what kind of world are we living in ? It sure as shit isn't the one I want to live in, how about you ?

Viper 3/7/2005

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First Published 3/7/2005 by Viperslair.co.uk

Re-published 1/1/2006

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