Global Citizens, DUMBO and La Roux

The past two weekends were full of activity: the Global Citizens Festival, the DUMBO Arts Festival, and La Roux live at Terminal 5. 

The Global Citizens Festival is an annual concert to end global poverty. They specified their goal of extreme poverty by 2030. I am a bit skeptical, since it seems that the income gap between the rich and the poor grow wider each year, but I suppose "extreme poverty," defined as people who live on less than two US dollars per day, probably will decrease. I do wonder how much of that increase will simply be due to inflation. Nevertheless, I hope that they meet their goal. The artists that performed included Tiesto, Fun, Carrie Underwood, No Doubt, Alicia Keys, the Roots, Jay-Z, Sting and Beyonce. Several celebrities and government officials hosted, including the Swedish royal family, prime ministers of Norway and Denmark, Ban Ki Moon, the President of the World Bank, Olivia Wilde, Jessica Alba, Ryan Renolds, Hugh Jackman, and some others that I can't remember now. Hugh Jackman joked, "Ban Ki Moon here is an amazing rapper. But out of respect for Jay Z, he has declined to perform this evening." I wasn't so excited about Jay Z, but I was hoping his wife would show up and indeed, Beyonce made a surprise appearance. She has such a presence that she didn't even announce herself. She simply appeared on the stage, and the crowd went wild. 

I can't upload video, but here's a link on youtube to No Doubt's performance of Don't Speak: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnscPqX7B-8

There were about 60,000 people in attendance, and tickets cannot be bought--they need to be won via the Global Citizens website for sharing articles on human rights issues. I had thought the concert would only be two hours or so, but it was a six hour event. I had been most excited to see No Doubt. I was disappointed with some of the audience members. Considering the event is meant to raise awareness about human rights issues, there were some really obnoxious people there. I suppose in a crowd on 60,000 there are inevitably some inconsiderate jerks. When presenters spoke about human rights issues, such as sexual abuse of children, some members of the crowd yelled, "Shut up and bring on the next singer!" Nevertheless, it was a really great event. 

A photo from when we arrived at the Global Citizens Festival

They looked like an album cover so I took a photo

Cell phones and lighters turned on for Beyonce's ballads

The DUMBO Arts Festival had about 300 artists participating, with a few interactive stations. There was one about clothing, in which people were asked to answer questions about articles of clothing that they wore, and pin their answers to various clothes hung on a clothes line. Another good stand was full of note cards with poems hung on cords. People, children and adults, were asked to improvise and write poems on a given topic. Two of the ones I liked included the following:

"And the moon blinked out and the world closed its eyes and began to wait for morning."

"And if I stared long enough, the ocean would become smaller and it would bring back what distance said would be lost."

A quote from E. E. Cummings: "I carry your heart. (I carry it in my heart)."

"You are lost to me, like the lipstick I stole from CVS. You are lost like the sparrows that occasionally fly towards my window and suddenly PAUSE. You are lost and yet, constantly found in the creased pages of my favorite book. You will constantly be found in this old mix that sometimes my heart meanders towards. Sometimes I find you."

"Roses are grey, Violets are grey. I am a dog -_-"

"My best friend is kind, gentle, nice and more. My best friend is the best person ever. My best friend is a really good person. My best friend takes half a heart of mine."

The Laundry Display

An interactive project that asks people to write what type of world they want to live in, and what they will do to help create that world. 

I participated too. I want to live in a world without racism or violent ideology. To create that world, I will learn as much as I can about other cultures, and travel. 

They wrote "No Guns"

This artist painted famous actresses and singers in hijabs as a response to the sexualization of women, specifically black women, in the media. 

A pretty door between galleries

This artist was by far my favorite. I wanted to buy several of her paintings, and she will probably be an inspiration for my own paintings.

Just one example of a lot of great street art under DUMBO tunnels

La Roux was probably the best performance I have seen at Terminal 5 to date. She has really great energy, and the type of music she plays is great live. We managed to get very good spots right at the corner of the stage. Her opening act however, was one of the worst that I've seen at Terminal 5. The thing is, I really liked the music, and thought they did a unique job of combining disco, 80s and electronica--I also thought the lead singer had a beautiful voice, but I couldn't understand anything she said. Apparently this was on purpose--her style is to sing in a very incoherent way, and occasionally act like she is having a seizure on the stage. The band is called Midnight Madness. La Roux however, was amazing. Her rendition of Bulletproof, the last song of the set, was done so well that I'll definitely try to see her live again.

Here is a youtube link to her performance that I found, since I couldn't upload mine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21e7a7SxEbY

La Roux on stage