We Are The World 25 For Haiti

I have to admit, I was skeptical when I heard about the 'We Are The World 25 For Haiti' initiative.I was around for Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas" which 4 months later inspired USA for Africa's "We Are The World".

I'm not exactly the biggest fan of pop music as it is right now. So many of the faces in this new video are people I have no CLUE as to who they are. The little boy who began the song/video - who is he? I read he was a Disney product. Was that a male or female who sang before Josh Groban? Usher did a decent "Huey Lewis" section of the song. The only "rock" oriented person there was the blonde chick who played with Michael Jackson- there was some tiny, half of a second shot of someone who resembled Carlos Santana maybe in the video. I suppose that kind of diversity isn't wanted.

Anyway, I think this is one of those rare occasions where a 'remake' or 're-imagining' works. I especially liked the little rap towards the end. Where was Eminem? I thought Jamie Foxx's tongue-in-cheek Ray Charles imitation was funny. The interwoven Michael Jackson footage and voice was interesting; even if the so called "duet" w/ sister Janet was obviously cheesy, it's all for a good cause, no? It was neat to see Lionel Ritchie and some old familiar faces from the original effort.

I personally think they could have had a very financially rewarding, very humorous opportunity by having people vote via donation as to whether or not Barbara Streisand or Celine Dion should be on the single or video. I personally would have given to see them removed or left off. Now I realize these womern have huge appeal and they will drive in donations from their fans worldwide into the effort. Heck, NAMBLA could do a charity record with these two on board and people would for the most part, blindly give to that event.

We really have to be careful about pouring all this money in Haiti. There needs to be at least a paper trail. Wyclef Jean's Haiti charity ran afoul with mismanagement and waste, but he publicly admitted so and "fixed" things. Nobody seems to remember all those deposed for one reason or another world leaders who had caches and just obscene amounts of UN and US aid stored away when their hideouts and palaces were raided. The most recent were a few of the street corner thugs in Haiti- and who could forget Saddam's sons' stashes?

There's gonna be a little corruption, a little "admin" cost in everything. We should really just watch where the money goes. That's all I saying. Give if you want. Just be aware that throwing money at something doesn't always solve the main problem.