Hope you all had a fun weekend!
For the most part, me and Jade make a point of not posting on the weekend (gotta take some "us" time, right?), but I wanted to take a quick second to mention something that happened on Saturday... World AIDS Day.
Every year, AIDS organizations set aside December 1 to honor those who have battled the worst epidemic the world has seen... and to encourage awareness as research continues.
There was an awesome art installation here in Boston... at the Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama. The Cyclorama is a huge rotunda of a venue, usually used for art shows or event rentals. This weekend, it was transformed into the home of Medicine Wheel, an installation inspired by a Native American ritual. Organized by artist Michael Dowling, the exhibit involved audience participation. For 24 hours (from midnight to midnight on December 1), participants walked one mile each way with copper pots from the gallery to Fort Point Channel (part of Boston Harbor). They filled up the pots with water and returned them to the gallery, making a chalk tally mark on the huge blackboard that surrounded the room.
The goal was to get 20,000 pots of water, each symbolizing one of the 20,000 young people who will die of AIDS in the next year. It was really, really sad to see all the pots lining the art exhibit, many of them lit with floating candles, and the seemingly endless series of tally marks. It really is something when you show that 20,000 lives is not "just a number."
In addition to the pots, a number of decorated platforms were arranged in a circle around the room. At these stations, people left small mementos and tributes to loved ones who had died of AIDS. Some left photographs or small notes. Other signed one of the several public "guestbooks" that were on the floor in front of each "altar." Reading through some of the stories they left about their loved ones, you get a much better understanding of the unique suffering they endured.
Anyway, I don't want to be a downer today... but historically, the clubbing community has been extremely supportive of AIDS-related issues and nonprofits. I hope everyone out there will continue to volunteer their time and their dime.
Dance music has churned out a lot of songs related to the AIDS crisis. I've picked 5 of them that come to mind... check 'em out, and click the links for samples. Here's the deal you have to promise me: If you like it, you'll buy it. And if you buy it, for ever 99 cents you donate to iTunes, you'll donate 99 more to a local AIDS-related nonprofit near you. That might mean no more than 5 bucks, total. But if everyone does it... well, you know the deal.
#5 - Tiesto "Dance4Life" (2006)
DJ Tiesto came up with this hit trance track to support the "Dance 4 Life" AIDS benefit.
#4 - Love Message "Love Message" (1996)
Back in the days of mid-90s Eurodance, a bunch of those crazy kids got together to create this song about AIDS awareness. Today, it's only available on Amazon.com.
#3 - Deborah Harry "Two Times Blue" (2007)
Though her current Billboard dance single isn't about AIDS, Debbie Harry (Blondie) has provided a link on her website for a free download of the track... encouraging donations to the San Francisco AIDS Collaborative.
Click here to download the track and make a donation!
#2 - Janet Jackson "Together Again" (1997)
An uplifting, hopeful piece of dance-pop that Janet Jackson wrote about her friends that passed from AIDS.
#1 - RENT Soundtrack "Seasons of Love" (2005)
Almost a decade after the '90s musical raised AIDS awareness to an important generation, the movie version spawned a series of club remixes. "Seasons of Love" is probably the show's best known song, and an important one that celebrates life, friendship, and hope.
No day but today!
JOHNNY
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