h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi
My "Bob Geldof" edited entry - A5248938 - appears in the space "Referenced Sites" instead of "Referenced Guide Entries" on my "Paula Yates" edited entry - A5249063

Paula's entry appears in the correct place on Bob's entry.

Weird.

Ah, I know why. The link is "LINK HREF" instead of

Can this be altered, please?

That would be because the code says instead of . That's what determines where the reference goes, and there is a caveat on the <./>GuideML-Link</.> page which says that links might not work properly if the wrong attribute is used.

There's your diagnosis... now to wait for someone nice to come along and fix it

Beat me to it

That reminds me are you going to add the latest from Make Poverty History to the article? About how they got their fingers burned with celebrities and will never work with them again after Live8? With most countries also going back on their pledges, what did it achieve anyway, with aid about to increase anyway, all their announced was what they were going to do before. Live8 didn't change a thing and with the increase only going on for 3 years will that will long enough to change anything?

I guess this your article doesn't need to cover this, maybe an article on Live8 or Make Poverty History should. Also read an article on Yousou N'dour lately where he is also very scathing about it all. I think being the only black face backstage, until Kofi Annan arrived was one of the things he said he found very disappointing.

Right rant over and out, and probably not done in right place either!

Don't even get me started on Kofi Annan!

I agree Kaz, but I can't write about future events and you can guarantee if I wrote about Make Poverty History someone would jump in boots first

There is an edited entry on Live 8, Kaz

A4439289

Yep it does cover a big subject all that, I was just annoyed by Bob Geldof and took the opportunity to vent.

Keep up the good work, its difficult though as almost every article could be updated every year!

Fixed your link to the Bob Geldof entry.

Was watching an old episode of Kenny Everett this week, in which Geldof was a guest star; his name was misspelt on the end credits as 'Geldorf'. As no-one else's name was spelt incorrectly, I can't even assume it was an injoke.

Thanks Jimster

That's terrible, I was annoyed when Joss Stone called
him "Bob Gandalf" because she didn't have a clue who he was.

I saw Bob sat next to Tony Blair, I think it was on the news yesterday, I had to smile when I saw him pick up a pen and he started to write with his left hand.



Everyone who's read my entry knows that now.

...and still Niwt hasn't logged in, after I linked to her left-handedness entry too.

"That's terrible, I was annoyed when Joss Stone called
him "Bob Gandalf" because she didn't have a clue who he was."

That is so karma in action, he trying to save Africa, without inviting African musicians and ignoring most of Africa and now some singer doesn't know him!

If he had profiled African musicians, we could all have discovered new African bands, bought their cds and helped to bring money into the continent. As it was no extra money was brought into Africa, no Africans were profiled, it was just a great big display of white mans guilt. Which is what Youssez N'dour and many other African musicians have said.

Aside from insulting African musicians by saying they weren't good enough to carry a concert, he insulted us by saying we would switch off if we saw a face we didn't know. Shame he didn't think of that before playing with his own band, he has had far less hits and sold far less records than Youssou N'dour and Khaled have sold, and probably many other African musicians. Ego in action there and no results for it either.

Oh my. Some days I wish I'd never logged in.

Sorry, I just read lots of interviews by African musicians and I seem to have similar views to them, I also have lots of African music in my collection. If you don't like the fact we have different views, then I can keep mine to myself from now on. Maybe there is a way you can yikes my post, if it distresses you.

Actually thinking about it, I am sure you can yikes it for saying 'white mans guilt'. Then I can keep my opinions to myself and you never need hear that lots of people don't like Bob Geldolf.

I am trying to say this nicely knowing that it probably won't be taken that way. If you don't like the fact we have different opinions on things then we can unfriend each other and you will never have to read my opinions again. I do mean the above nicely, I know you have been feeling bad and I don't want to make you feel worse.

I don't mind that you have views different to mine. That wasn't my point. Your post quoted my words, so the whole post was directed at me, right?

If I didn't know that you are a white person, I'd have yikesed the post for the racist views portrayed.

I think you've completely missed the point there, Kaz. Would quite so many people have paid attention if the line-up had been any acts less famous than Ladysmith Black Mambasa (who many would know but few could name)? Hundreds of similar projects fail every year simply because most people don't want to hear music they don't already know. Some do, but they're not the ones whose opinions need changing.

The point of Live Aid and Live8 was to draw attention to the plight of Africa and other Third-World countries by getting *familiar* faces on board. If you want white, middle-class, affluent people to pay attention, you need to give them acts that will appeal to the maximum amount of white, middle-class people. That's how you get newspaper editors to pay attention, that's how you get the TV companies to agree to broadcast. You want people who can guarantee a crowd in their own right, because each of them has a fan base who you can reach out to. If you're only going to court fans of Khaled, how many people will you genuinely reach out to? As many as Madonna? Coldplay? More people watch Jonathan Ross on a Friday night than buy Khaled's records...

You're also very wrong to suggest that Bob Geldof had fewer hits than Youssou N'Dour. The Boomtown Rats had nine top 20 hits in the UK Singles Chart and two number ones. He was also the co-writer of a little song called 'Do They Know It's Christmas', which has now been a number one single on three separate occasions (at Christmas, no less). Youssou N'Dour had one single reach number 3, '7 Seconds' on which he was a guest performer alongside Neneh Cherry. His only other UK release of note was 'Shaking the Tree', a collaboration with Peter Gabriel which failed to breach the Top 60. A marvellous musician he may be, but he ain't gonna put bums on seats.

It's not about chart success so much as visibility. There is little point in trying to gain the attention of Africa by playing its own music back to it; the purpose of Live8 was to get the attention of people who would never usually listen, or who had chosen to ignore the problems there.

Had Bob Geldof been concerned with his ego, he might not have spent two years of his life working for free to make a difference with the first Band Aid. I'm not sure the same could be said of the other performers on Live8 and Band 20, but that's a matter for their own conscience. But it's far too easy to be sneery at people who know they want to help without necessarily understanding all the facts. Live8 and 'Make Poverty History' were never going to change the world overnight, and the speed with which some critics leapt to rubbish the efforts of those groups was a little sickening. It's just like the stand taken by Emeline Parkhurst or Rosa Parkes. The sacrifices of these women didn't change the world. But it changed the attitudes of the people in their world so that next time they'd be more informed when making their decisions. Come back to us in 20 years and we'll be able to say whether MPH's campaign - and Geldof's part in it - was a success. After all, it took 20 years for most people to recognise that Band Aid wasn't enough on its own, because for that aid to work most effectively, you need to change the minds of governments, not just people, or else the problem becomes circular.

Having said all of this, I did find Joss Stone's 'Gandalf' gaffe inappropriately hilarious. Shame on me.

I know that lots of people don't like Bob Geldof !!!

I wrote that in the entry introduction!

Why would I be offended by that?

I don't think Youssou N'Dour chart sales are only in this country. He has also had great success in France and even the US aside from his own country of course. He is also still releasing new material which is relevant to our age, unlike the Bowntown Rats.

I'll unsubscribe now, as my views seem to be causing so much trouble.

Sorry Jimster, post 17 was meant for Kaz.

Re: "Having said all of this, I did find Joss Stone's 'Gandalf' gaffe inappropriately hilarious" - it was for precisely that that I wrote my entry on Geldof. So you have no need to be ashamed.