For Elise - for his life

Sometimes he can't play the high C-B-E-chord. If that happens he plays a G instead of a B - although he knows how to play Beethoven's "For Elise" since his childhood. Sometimes, when his left little finger is very stiff because of the cold outside, something like this can happen. And Nendar's fingers are often very rigid.

"Especially in the winter months, it is really hard because I always think that it all may soon be over," said Nendar about his life on the road - the streets of Las Vegas. A life without a fixed abode, a life with a sleeping bag, a hat - and an accordion. It was a present from his father - he gave Nendar the accordion shortly before he died. At that time, Nendar was a small boy. With a big dream. "I wanted to become a musician and earn a lot of money." He became a musician but the dreams about the money just didn't come true. If it's a good day, he collects about seven dollars in his hat - when it is a bad day, maybe two.

Nendars dark eyes begin to shine when he tells about his favorite food he's able to buy when he gets enough money. "I love meatballs with mustard and fresh bread." Of course not every day, but occasionally he allows himself this "luxury".

When you see Nendar in the streets, sitting in his sleeping bag, which originally must have been green but now is yellow and littered with brown spots, he appears like he's 58. Or 60. Maybe even 65. He has a round face - nearly half of it is covered by a black beard. From his yellowed teeth are only a few left.

Nendar is not ugly. Unkempt, but not ugly. Presumably, it is not his age, but the years on the street which had left the marks on his face. Somewhere along the way he stopped counting the years. "What are years?" he asks me and expects no reply.

He was eleven years old when his parents died. Nendar grew up in a children's home.

"I was young, I had high hopes, everything was possible back then." The other children often annoyed him. They laughed about Nendar's dream of the big stage. Now he laughs. "Well, that's at least a small stage," he smiles.

Sometimes he can't play the high C-B-E-chord.

Today he succeeds. It is a good day.

When will the war in Iraq end? The answer is blowin' in the wind.

In one of my last articles I referred to Bob Dylan's song "Blowin' In The Wind".

Not only, is Bob Dylan one of my favorite singers and songwriters, I think that the political atmosphere in the USA after the Presidential Elections needs more of the old 60s songs, which truly represent change and revolution.

It is said that Dylan wrote the song within only ten minutes on one afternoon in the year 1963. He put words to the melody of an old slave song called "No More Auction Block," which he might have learned from Carter family records. In the evening of the same day, Bob Dylan played the song at a club in Greenwich Village.

The folk anthem of a whole generation was created in 1963 and it is still the "Revolution Song".

In the last weeks, I heard Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind" many times on the radio and it is always a pleasure to hear it.

Through the election campaigns Dylan spoke out his thoughts and expressed his support for the former Democratic candidate and now President-elect Barack Obama.

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?

Yes, n how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?

Yes, n how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they’re forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?

Yes, n how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?

Yes, n how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before its washed to the sea?

Yes, n how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?

Yes, n how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn’t see?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,

The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

It is not only the situation of a new President, it not the financial crisis, which shakes the country and fears the people.
It is the war in Iraq, which is still going on.

The song, nowadays, asks: "When will this senseless war end?" The song reminds people, that there is still a war to end and to stop. There are still soldiers, who need to come home again.

Hopefully, the change promised by the President-elect Barack Obama and the change, what is forced by the lyrics of the song will come soon.

Hopefully, the people see the urge of ending the war in Iraq and do not forget, that there is the challenge beyond the American boarders.

Bob Dylan - Blowin' In the Wind

Voices of a Grassroots Movement

Kanye West, Maroon 5’s Adam Levine, Jackson Browne, John Legend, Dave Stewart. The list of prominent supporters of the President-elect, Barack Obama, is growing steadily. They will all appear on a new Obama-Compilation - a benefit album which proceeds are intended to cover the costs of Obama's election campaign.

The album "Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement" will be available in stores on Nov 11, 2008. But you already have the chance to purchase this album at Barack Obama's official homepage.

The 18-track limited edition album is rounded out by songs from some of Obama’s favorite artists, including Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Lionel Richie and Sheryl Crow.

Most of the songs on this album have been previously released - for example Stevie Wonder's classic "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" and John Mayer's "Waiting On the World to Change" - but a few songs are new, including John Legend's "Pride in the Name of Love" and "Promised Land", a song by Malik Yusef featuring Kanye West and Adam Levine of Maroon 5.

I found an interesting quote from the republican spokesman Tucker Bounds concerning this album: "It's ironic that on a day when the economy is in turmoil, Barack Obama fails to release an economic plan, but instead chooses a celebrity rock album."

However - this album is amazing and includes brilliant songs. I can only recommend it to everyone.

Keep in mind: It will be available in stores on Nov 11 and you can also order it online at Amazon.

But for those of you who can't wait, go to barackobama.com
Here's the Tracklist:

1. Eternity - Lionel Richie
2. Signed, Sealed, Delivered - Stevie Wonder
3. Waiting On The World To Change - John Mayer
4. American Prayer - Dave Stewart
5. Battle Cry - Shontelle
6. Make It Better - Los Lonely Boys
7. Pride In The Name Of Love - John Legend
8. I Have A Dream - BeBe Winans
9. Am I All Alone - Suai
10. One Is The Magic # - Jill Scott
11. Love & Hope - Ozomatli
12. Looking East - Jackson Browne
13. Out of Our Heads - Sheryl Crow
14. Promised Land - Malik Yusef with Kanye West and Adam Levine of Maroon 5
15. Hold On - Yolanda Adams
16. America The Beautiful - Keb’ Mo’
17. America - Ken Stacey
18. Wide River - Buddy Miller

John Mayer - Waiting on the World to Change (Acoustic)

The election on the dance floor

There's only one place that the election should be decided ... the dance floor!

I know this has not much to do with music or political campaign songs but I found this video while I was browsing YouTube. Almost 3,000,000 people watched this video until now.

This video shows the presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain carrying it out on the dance floor.

The video editing is really amazing - I don't want to know how much time they must have spent working on the scenes and on the candidates faces.

Although the most important result is set in stone - have fun seeing who of them will win this election.

Obama and McCain - Dance Off!


See more videos by this director at http://www.minimovie.com/

Entering the next round: "A Change Is Gonna Come"

In my last blog entry I wrote about Sam Cooke's song "A Change is Gonna Come".

Now, one day after the election, I found out that Seal, who is an Afro-American as is Obama, and Heidi Klum's lord and master, brought out a new single - suited to the election victory of Barack Obama, the first Afro-American president.

Seal's new song is a cover version - you will already know it if you read my blog: "A Change Is Gonna Come" - a famous song by R & B singer Sam Cooke from 1964. No one can tell me that this song is not a tribute to the new president of the United States. But it is also a protest song, which it always was.

Seal includes the third verse "I go to movies and I go downtown / Somebody keep telling me "Don't hand around", which had been left out in the Sam Cooke release from 1964. Maybe Seal used this line because he wants to make a point about Blacks still not having all the same rights. Maybe he wants to express the urge of an improvement of this unequality.

Nevertheless, today, Seal can include this verse without fearing the abolishment of his song in the radio - In 1964 Sam Cooke had to. It is great to see, that his record is released WITH the third verse of "A Change Is Gonna Come".

I have to say that Seal did an excellent job. The song is the first single from his new album that includes a lot of old smash hits - where every note has been jazzed up.

Seal - A Change Is Gonna Come

"A Change Is Gonna Come" - The change is finally here

In the last weeks I listened to a lot of songs: Campaign songs, songs that are dedicated to a Presidential candidate or even songs that caused a lot of troubles (copyright infringement issues, and such).
But I noticed that there's no real soundtrack - what's the soundtrack of Barack Obama's campaign? There's no song on the radio that is associated with him. Of course, a lot of musicians support him by dedicating songs to him or playing concerts to arouse the crowd to go out and vote. But there's no catchy tune - and, in my opinion, all the dedicated songs didn't really fire my rocket.

After writing about Neil Young's "Lookin' For A Leader" I have to mention a song, which is much more appropriate to this issue.
"A Change Is Gonna Come" written by Sam Cooke, can represent the election campaigns in 2008, especially the Obama campaign.

The song was recorded in 1963 and was released a year later, after Cooke had been shot in El Segundo. The song is a representative of the Civil Rights Movement - a movement very strong and compareable to the "Yes We Can" movement caused by Barack Obama.

An verse in "A Change Is Gonna Come" says: "I go to the movie and I go downtown, somebody keep telling me don't hang around."
It refers to Cooke's experience, when he and a couple of friends want to rent a motel room in Lousiana the service to them was refused - because they were black.

"A Change Is Gonna Come" can be seen as an answer to Bob Dylan's song "Blowin' In The Wind", another protest song for the Civil Right Movement. To Sam Cooke's opinion a protest song for the support of the Black's rights could only be written by a black musician.

Besides Stevie Wonder's famous song "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours", which was played after every rally of Barack Obama's campaign this year, Sam Cooke's song can be, in my eyes, some kind of 'soundtrack' for this election.

And as we all know now, since CNN declared Barack Obama the new President of the United States of America, the change finally came and Sam Cooke's and the Civil Right Movement's spirit have reached the peak: The first Afro-American is the President of the USA.
See the comments below the video and see how a song which is more than 40 years old still touches the people in a historical situation like this!


A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke

"Lookin' For A Leader"

In my young days I listened a lot to Nirvana and the Grunge scene in and around Seattle. And of course, Neil Young was well known to me - I appreciated his music and still do. I have a lot his albums and automatically turn the radio louder when I hear songs such as "Heart of Gold" or "Old Man". 
Neil Young has been a regular reader of the Los Angeles Free Press since the 1960s and, additionally, gave the newspaper exclusive rights to print the lyrics of his songs.

Even though many of us think that was back then, here’s proof that he still has his finger on the pulse of the future. In his last album, "Living With War", Young mentions Obama in the song "Lookin' for a Leader". This song from 2006 wasn't expressly written for or about Barack Obama, but it certainly gave him a shout out. In it, Neil Young sings of America's need for a new leader.

"Yeah maybe it's Obama, but he thinks that he's too young."

Because this is my kind of music and because of the song's message, I’d like to share it with you.

Neil Young - Lookin' For A Leader