Photos from the Beat
The Coolest Band on Earth
In the midst of some miscellaneous errands today, I'm tuning into the 24-hour, worldwide Live Earth concert, which is doing its best not to be a draw on the environment. Except Al Gore was in Washington D.C. at noon and in New York at 3 p.m. ... excessive use of plane fuel, anyone?
I kid, I kid. I've developed a new respect for Al since he took on the green movement as his cause to champion, and the concert has been well-planned so far, and relatively bare-bones as far as stage-tricks and massive audio and video components go.
Except in Tokyo. Tokyo is lighting up the Japanese sky with thousands of kilwowatts of superior technology.
But the real story here is that of the unsung hero of Live Earth - Nunatak, the band performing on Antarctica for a sell-out crowd of 17 people. Due to the difficulty of getting airplanes and ships to the continent, even Al Gore's, Nunatak had to forego the big crowds that Snoop Dogg, Shakira, The Dave Matthews Band, and The Police will be enjoying. And what's worse, their performance won't even be telecast live along with the other acts, because of an inability to set up an adequate satellite hook-up.
What a total bummer, given this is the band that exemplifies this global event! And, have a fiddle player in the band!
Nunatak is actually members of the British Antarctic Survey, researching climate change and evolutionary trends by day and entertaining fellow scientists by night.
Support Nunatak - the Live Earth band with the least impact on the planet - and perhaps the only act that is creating practical, positive change.
Support the other bands too, though - for the most part, they rock, and music is the only universal language.
