The Lamb Lies Down in Berlin
The Lord of Eltingville
By Steve James 1 hour, 38 minutes ago
NEW YORK (Reuters) - He was a progressive rock star in the '70s, an MTV
video icon in the '80s and a world music guru for the new millennium.
He's also a record producer, songwriter, political activist and musical
talent scout. A kind of multi-media artist-rebel -- with many causes.
Now Peter Gabriel has a new title -- director of really big sporting
extravaganzas.
The world soccer body FIFA has tapped the English musician to organize
the opening ceremony for next year's World Cup finals in Germany. The
man who only recently became a fan of the game and European champions
Liverpool is working on songs for the show in Berlin's Olympic Stadium.
"It's like owning a big playpen and someone else is going to pay for
it," Gabriel told Reuters in a recent interview. "I'm not going to be
playing (soccer)!" he laughed. "But I was asked to get involved. We're
writing some of the music and getting involved in some crazy ideas."
Crazy ideas like the seminal 1987 video "Sledgehammer" that rocketed him
to international fame? The video, which won 9 MTV awards, featuring a
real-life Gabriel singing his funky homage to the Stax record label,
amid a wild 3-D animation landscape of steam trains, bumper cars and
singing fruit?
BIG TIME, BIG AUDIENCE
"Well I did have this idea," he said mischievously. "A red curtain
across the goal and that would grow to a skirt and we'd attach little
tails to footballs so they become like sperm...
"But I don't know if this is an idea that is going to fly!" he grinned,
when reminded that NBC fended off complaints last year about the
broadcast of the Athens Olympics opening ceremony featuring ancient
Greek gods in various stages of undress and simulating naughty acts.
Not to mention the flak CBS took over Janet Jackson's peek-a-boo nipple
during the 2004 Superbowl halftime show.
The full-length show the night before the finals begin will be a first
for the World Cup, similar to past Olympic extravaganzas, said Gabriel,
who is coordinating the event with a French choreographer and a German
producer.
"It's a show that anyone who ever won the World Cup is going to be
invited to. All the players, (including England's 1966 star) Bobby
Charlton, hopefully.
Another key element, he said, is that it's in Berlin, "the same stadium
where Hitler had the '36 Olympics.
THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY
"It looks different now, but we've had lots of discussions about how
much to refer to that," said Gabriel. By "that," he meant Jesse Owens
winning four gold medals, Hitler being less than pleased and the
foreboding images of Nazi exuberance captured in Leni Riefenstahl's
documentary "Olympia."
"I think FIFA just want (to say), 'Anything the Olympics can do, we can
do better.' It's a pretty big audience."
Thirty years removed from the gaunt dark-haired singer with the band
Genesis, Gabriel, 55, is Yoda-like now, head shaved with a pointy white
goatee and piercing blue eyes. Dressed entirely in black, he is sipping
tea in a Manhattan hotel suite with his filmmaker daughter Anna, 31.
They are promoting two DVDs: "Still Growing Up -- Peter Gabriel Live and
Unwrapped," with songs and behind-the-scenes images from his 2003
European tour and documentary footage that Anna shot and edited. Another
daughter, Melanie, 25, was a backup singer on the tour.
Gabriel also talks about another DVD he's releasing: "Live 8 at Eden:
Africa Calling," featuring the concert he organized in July in Cornwall,
England as part of the Live 8 campaign to end poverty, especially in
Africa. The concert was made up entirely of African performers.
But Gabriel was a bit peeved with Live 8 organizer Bob Geldoff. "We
loved the initiative and the whole Live 8 thing, however, it did feel a
little bit like having a party for people and not inviting them," he
said of other concerts held around the world with Western rock, pop and
hip-hop artists.
GAMES WITHOUT FRONTIERS, WAR WITHOUT TEARS
"We felt there should be more African artists and I called Bob about it
and his point was that the principal job was to get the message across
to the TV people and the TV eyes watching and any unfamiliar acts,
wherever they came from, would mean people switching off."
Gabriel disagreed: "When they had (Nelson) Mandela shows in London the
bill was really mixed and I don't think we lost any viewers as a result.
African artists are strong, charismatic and compelling, and I think they
hold people's attention."
So Gabriel, who marches to his own drummer, organized "Africa Calling"
without help or funding from Live 8. Two months later, the
World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund agreed on debt relief for the world's
poorest nations.
"(But) There's still a lot to do," said the singer.
ed...@ccil.org
The Lord of Eltingville wrote:
> Peter Gabriel: From Genesis to midfield impresario
> By Steve James 1 hour, 38 minutes ago
>
> NEW YORK (Reuters) - He was a progressive rock star in the '70s, an MTV
<Snippage>
Nice! Peter Gabriels's vision of a curtain>skirt and sperm spiraling
through the air to reach "the Goal"! Sounds a lot like Carpet Crawlers
to me!
You go Peter!
pookietooth
> By Steve James 1 hour, 38 minutes ago
>
Just listened the 'Us' this morning for the first time in years.
Pretty powerful music.
Whatever he ends up doing it'll be worth watching!