Michael Franti

Can you stand ONE more gushing post? About a show I saw? Just one? I don't think there is anything else I'll need to gush about for the forseeable future. OK. Thanks. Your poor, bleeding eyes... Y'all are troupers.

Last night I saw the most. beautiful. show. Michael Franti was in Ottawa, screening his documentary and playing an acoustic show for me. Yes, me. He looked right into my eyes, I swear. Oh, and 899 other people were there too, but that was just to balance out the acoustics in the room.

So first (after hours of waiting - who has an event for 900 people and makes it general admission? God damn. Worst-organized event I have ever been to - ahem! coughOttawaFolkFestcough, cough. I waited in line for over an hour, and bought my ticket like 3 or 4 weeks ago, and people who just showed up and bought their tix 7 seconds before the doors opened managed to sidle their slimy way past me and get in before me! I know, it's petty, but that pisses me off! So I am not a noble, generous soul. Sue me. And um, Miss Tighly Coiffed Blonde Lady Wearing Too Much Pink Lipstick? You cannot invite 74 of your closest friends to BUTT IN and join you at the front of the line, in front of people who waited in the cold for an hour. Because then you force normally sweet, even-tempered girls to want to KILL you where you stand. Oh, especially when you BUTTED IN to get to the front of the line in the first place!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I sent you death-darts with my eyes. AND THEN you really shouldn't ask Iraqi-people-phobic questions during the show. Sweet, even-tempered girls will wish for bad things to happen to you. I HATE BUTTERS!!!!!!!!!!)

Anyway.

Wait - let me digress just once more. I first saw Michael Franti thanks to a freak of nature. He was playing at the Ottawa Blues Fest this summer, and just as he was about to start his show on the mainstage, the skies opened and let forth hell and fury in the form of thunder, lightening and sheeting rain. His show was cancelled, but he graciously agreed to come back the following night and play - which happened to be the night that I was there. I saw him play and loved him instantly - and then he sang this line: "You can bomb the world to pieces, but you can't bomb it into peace." and I knew we were meant for each other. Apparently he has a partner (wife) and 2 kids, but that's ok - I can fit in. I'm really accomodating.

Where was I.

Oh yes. Finally the show begins. Michael Franti introduces the documentary he made. One day he up and decided that he was headin to Bagdhad - oh, and while we're there, we'll head on over to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He intro'd the doc with something like this:

Three years ago, on eve of the Shock and Awe Campaign, I was laying on my yoga mat (Kim bites her knuckles in rapture) thinking of how America was to start bombing Iraq tomorrow. I imagined it was my city that was going to be bombed tomorrow, and what I would say to my sons. To my five-year-old, who doesn't understand war and the realities of it, I would tuck him in and tell him 'There's going to be fireworks and thunder and lightening tonight, but don't worry - just try to sleep.' And then I thought about my sixteen-year old, who does understand the reality of war through history books and movies and such, and what would I say to him. I couldn't think of a single thing. And I just lay there and wept.

The next day he was looking in the media for interviews with Iraqi families and American soldiers etc, and couldn't find anything. He kept looking for a year and saw almost nothing except politicians talking about the economic cost of war, the political cost of war, but nothing about the human cost of war. A year after the war started he called his manager and said, "Find us a way to get to Bagdhad." He went, he played music for people, and talked, and shot 250 hours of footage. He went first to Bagdhad and then to the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He talked to soldiers (American, Israeli), Iraqis, Palestinians, Israelis. It was very good.

Then after the film, he came out on stage and did a question and answer session. He was very cool - you can tell he thinks a lot, and he genuinely answered questions, thought about things, and bantered with the audience. It was very cool.

Theeeen, he played a whole acoustic concert. I hate to overuse a cliche term, but the whole evening was so nicely intimate. He interacted with the audience. The evening was like a conversation with like-minded people, and it was pretty damn cool. His music is amazing. My favorite line of the evening (from one of his songs) was "The people who start wars never have to fight them." He played a beautiful show, and then when he was finished he set down his guitar and stepped off the front of the stage into the audience and just hung out. He hugged every person who talked to him, and he remembered people from the last time he played and partied in Ottawa. It was pretty much a big ole luv-in. :-) :-) :-)

Awesome night. For my ticket price, it was 3 hours and 45 minutes of entertainment, what with a 90 min film, Q & A, and the acoustic show. Not bad a'tall.