rihannsu
Refugee
This is an example of why Bono's AI appearance was worth it:
Lee University welcomes home Phil Stacey
Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 2:00pm
By Susan Pierce
Staff Writer
About 250 faculty, friends, staff and students of Lee University today welcomed home Phil Stacey, the college's alumnus who gained national fame as the sixth-place finalist on Season 6 of "American Idol."
An invitation-only reception for Mr. Stacey was held on the Lee campus in Cleveland, Tenn., this morning.
Mr. Stacey, who is a Petty Officer 3rd Class stationed in Jacksonville, Fla., was in the area to open for Jars of Clay at tonight's Riverbend Festival in Chattanooga. Mr. Stacey will sing the national anthem.
Since being voted off "AI" on May 2, he said he has "been shocked by the doors that have opened to him" from the television exposure.
"The day after I was eliminated, my personal e-mail account was full of e-mails from different management companies and record labels."
The singer said he has had two movie offers, but plans to focus on his singing career with the goal of making a country music CD. Of all the musical celebrities who mentored the Idol finalists during theme weeks, he cited U2's Bono as making the biggest impression.
"Bono changed my life with what he believes. The man literally believes that if we work together we can actually end poverty in the world. He convinced me of that and it changed my life forever," Mr. Stacey said.
E-mail Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com
See tomorrow's Chattanooga Times Free Press for complete coverage.
___________________
Every individual he inspires is another soldier in the war against poverty and each of them goes on hopefully to inspire others. This is a long term battle and it isn't going to be won over nite but every little step counts. Viral marketing at its best. Bono is reminding us that we can fight city hall, we can have a voice, we can change the way the world works and even though it won't happen overnight every step we take is necessary. There are those who want everyone to believe that the problems are too big and when you look at the entire scope of the thing it does seem that way, but if you just commit to do something, anything, and start working sooner or later you start to see that you are getting somewhere. The G8 results some would argue were predictable but that is no excuse to have not tried. Bono's genius is that he isn't putting all his eggs in one basket. He's working the problem from all the angles and slowly chipping away at it. When he started this in 98 people laughed at the idea that debt cancellation could happen, but it is happening. Then people laughed at the idea that he could get Democrats and Republicans to work together on that and on aid to Africa, but it's happening. The idea that huge corporations would run ads raising awareness of the AIDS epidemic was laughable too, but it's happening. The media is still trying to act like Live 8 was a one shot deal and doesn't seem to understand that Make Poverty History is and ongoing movement. They continue to report it as if each event is some kind of conclusion. They are complicent in the attempt to lull everyone back into the silence of complacency and indifference and that is why Idol was an important thing to do no matter how uncool it might appear because every opportunity to wake up large amounts of the public is important. Those of us who are aware might be getting tired of Bono's message but believe it or not there are still people who have not heard it often enough to get through to them. We have a tendency to think that everyone in the world knows who Bono is and is sick of hearing him talk but its not so. Every new access to potentially new audiences has to be explored and Bono has the courage to do that no matter how uncool it might be.
Dana
Lee University welcomes home Phil Stacey
Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 2:00pm
By Susan Pierce
Staff Writer
About 250 faculty, friends, staff and students of Lee University today welcomed home Phil Stacey, the college's alumnus who gained national fame as the sixth-place finalist on Season 6 of "American Idol."
An invitation-only reception for Mr. Stacey was held on the Lee campus in Cleveland, Tenn., this morning.
Mr. Stacey, who is a Petty Officer 3rd Class stationed in Jacksonville, Fla., was in the area to open for Jars of Clay at tonight's Riverbend Festival in Chattanooga. Mr. Stacey will sing the national anthem.
Since being voted off "AI" on May 2, he said he has "been shocked by the doors that have opened to him" from the television exposure.
"The day after I was eliminated, my personal e-mail account was full of e-mails from different management companies and record labels."
The singer said he has had two movie offers, but plans to focus on his singing career with the goal of making a country music CD. Of all the musical celebrities who mentored the Idol finalists during theme weeks, he cited U2's Bono as making the biggest impression.
"Bono changed my life with what he believes. The man literally believes that if we work together we can actually end poverty in the world. He convinced me of that and it changed my life forever," Mr. Stacey said.
E-mail Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com
See tomorrow's Chattanooga Times Free Press for complete coverage.
___________________
Every individual he inspires is another soldier in the war against poverty and each of them goes on hopefully to inspire others. This is a long term battle and it isn't going to be won over nite but every little step counts. Viral marketing at its best. Bono is reminding us that we can fight city hall, we can have a voice, we can change the way the world works and even though it won't happen overnight every step we take is necessary. There are those who want everyone to believe that the problems are too big and when you look at the entire scope of the thing it does seem that way, but if you just commit to do something, anything, and start working sooner or later you start to see that you are getting somewhere. The G8 results some would argue were predictable but that is no excuse to have not tried. Bono's genius is that he isn't putting all his eggs in one basket. He's working the problem from all the angles and slowly chipping away at it. When he started this in 98 people laughed at the idea that debt cancellation could happen, but it is happening. Then people laughed at the idea that he could get Democrats and Republicans to work together on that and on aid to Africa, but it's happening. The idea that huge corporations would run ads raising awareness of the AIDS epidemic was laughable too, but it's happening. The media is still trying to act like Live 8 was a one shot deal and doesn't seem to understand that Make Poverty History is and ongoing movement. They continue to report it as if each event is some kind of conclusion. They are complicent in the attempt to lull everyone back into the silence of complacency and indifference and that is why Idol was an important thing to do no matter how uncool it might appear because every opportunity to wake up large amounts of the public is important. Those of us who are aware might be getting tired of Bono's message but believe it or not there are still people who have not heard it often enough to get through to them. We have a tendency to think that everyone in the world knows who Bono is and is sick of hearing him talk but its not so. Every new access to potentially new audiences has to be explored and Bono has the courage to do that no matter how uncool it might be.
Dana
Good job Dana! Well said!!
