Ahmadinejad Ate Their Votes!

Alteration of Photo of a Protea Blossom I took at the USCS Arboretum

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On June 24, Iranian Superstar Andy Madadian went into an LA recording studio with Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and American record producers Don Was and John Shanks to record a musical message of worldwide solidarity with the people of Iran. This version of the old Ben E. King classic is not for sale - it was not meant to be on the Billboard charts or even manufactured as a CD.....it's intended to be downloaded and shared by the Iranian people...to give voice to the sentiment that all people of the world stand together....the handwritten Farsi sign in the video translates to "we are one". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RASKaZFZtS8

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Also recording in support of the Iranian people was folk veteran Joan Baez, with a version of "We Shall Overcome" featuring some lyrics in Farsi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVCqPAzI-JY

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Some interesting articles about Iran I read recently:


Battle for Iran shifts from the streets to the heart of power: Ayatollah Khamenei's support for President Ahmadinejad has led both moderates and hard-liners to start plotting against him http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/28/iran-mahmoud-ahmadinejad

Iran Was an Easier Enemy Before We Saw Their Faces
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-bromwich/iran-was-an-easier-enemy_b_220186.html

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Last night we attended a powerful reading of the last 10 poems written by Hungarian poet, Miklós Radnóti, who was killed by the Nazi's during WWII and buried in a mass grave. Several years later, after the war, the graves were exhumed, and the poems were found in his jacket pocket, still barely readable, written while the prisoners were on a 'death' march. The show featured these poems, accompanied by a jazz band featuring cello, saxophone and flute. I will share one of the poems:

"Evening Approaches"

Across the slick sky the sun is climbing down,
and the evening is coming early along the road.
Its coming is watched in vain by the sharp-eyed moon—
little puffs of mist are gathering.

The hedgerow is wakening, it catches at a weary wanderer;
the evening is spinning among the tree branches
and humming louder and louder, while these lines build up
and lean on one another.

A frightened squirrel springs into my quiet room,
and here a six-footed iambic couplet scampers by.
From the wall to the window, a brown moment—
and it's gone without a trace.

The fleeting peace disappears with it. Silent
worms crawl over the far fields
and slowly chew to pieces the endless
rows of the reclining dead.

more at: http://www.thehypertexts.com/Mikl%C3%B3s_Radn%C3%B3ti_Hungarian_Poet_Poetry_Tanslator_Bio.htm

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