Do They Know It's Been Twenty-Three Years?

Last night, as I was tucking myself safely into bed, VH1 did me the favor of reminding me that yesterday, July 13, was the anniversary of the Live Aid concerts. That was way back in 1985. I have a very distinct memory of that day. My roommate and I had our VCR rolling. It was our intent to get every last minute on tape so we could remember that time forever. I'm glad that VH1 knows where their tapes are, since mine have been buried by the sands of time and forgetfulness.
Back then, music was a vital force in my world, and when I was told by this sea of musicians that I could help change the world, I believed them. I had already pledged my allegiance to Bruce Springsteen and the food banks of the United States, now I was ratcheting my commitment up a notch to follow Bob Geldof's vision of feeding the planet. I pledged my money somewhere in the third hour, after the concert in Philadelphia had begun, and the one in Wembley had begun to wind down. I pledged enough to get the T-shirt. I may have been altruistic, but I was still a capitalist at heart.
Somewhere in there, Bob Dylan said, "I hope that some of the money...maybe they can just take a little bit of it, maybe...one or two million, maybe...and use it, say, to pay the mortgages on some of the farms and, the farmers here, owe to the banks..." and Farm Aid was born. With that, a flurry of additional charity were launched, and suddenly it became impossible to pay for all the good intentions of the planet. Then came the backlash, where all the pundits pointed out how little of the donations actually made it to the source of the problems. Corruption and misappropriation caused the whole affair to become less of a miracle, especially in the eyes of some cynics.
I confess I did pledge to that first Farm Aid show too. I got a bandanna.