Left Field: The music. I was in love with the girl in the record shop. She persuaded me to buy Johnny Tillotson's 'Poetry in Motion'. Being in CND in South London, meant live Blues artists at the Bromley Court Hotel. These three got my mojo working. Howlin Wolf's 'Smoketsack Ligtnin' ', John Lee Hooker's 'Jack of Diamonds' & Muddy Waters, 'Got my Mojo Working'. Jimmy Kennedy was getting ready to go to Bosnia to run the War Child Mostar bakery. I remember his endless cups of tea, his smokes and his obsession with Van Morrison's 'Queen of the Slipstream'. Brian Eno invited me to his studio to listen to an early recording of 'Miss Sarajevo'. Bono composed it and Brian was producing it. He needed to double check how to pronounce Miljacka. In 1995 the Help album was released with contributions from more than 20 artists, It was recorded on Monday, September 4th, 1995, in studios across Europe and released, on target, five days later. It raised more than £1.5 million for aid to Bosnia Herzegovina. I was in charge of deciding where the money went. Here are two tracks from the album: Sinéad O'Connor's 'Ode to Billy Joe' had arrived too late for inclusion in the album, but Brian Eno and his team were so impressed with her haunting rendition that they felt they had to include the song. 'Fade Away' was recorded by Oasis with contributions from Kate Moss and Johnny Depp. 'Pavarotto and Friends' for War Child in Modena raised millions for the charity. The music Centre in Mostar was the result. Of course Pavarotti, Bono and Eno sang 'Miss Sarajevo' and Liza Minnelli joined Pavarotti for 'New York, New York'. Bruce Cockburn's 'Somebody Touched Me' is for Anne Aylor whose touch saved my life. watch & listen to Left Field: The Musical
Then check out Left Field, published by Unbound & distributed by Penguin Books
Dawn Neely Randall My British friend David Wilson's book, Left Field, was recently released, though it hasn't found its way to the U.S. yet. I want to change that. My goal is to get a copy to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since it is very much music-based. I also want to share it with friends so there is a demand for it to be picked up by the American market. It's a brilliant piece of work. If you're interested, you can look it up on Amazon (David Wilson, Left Field) to see if it's available in Kindle edition. For now, this is a snippet of what it says on Amazon here in Europe: "As the co-founder of War Child, he was instrumental in bringing a mobile bakery into war-torn Bosnia. In 1995 the charity gained prominence with the release of the Help album. Contributors included David Bowie, Brian Eno, Paul McCartney and Sinéad O'Connor. Help captured the world’s attention and brought the healing power of music to young people whose lives had been devastated by war. Left Field is an engaging and humorous memoir which will inspire not only Wilson's generation, but also today's young people who are campaigning for a better, fairer world." I'm pretty much in awe of David this week. Amazing how I've known him for four years now, but had no clue about all his major accomplishments and activism or all the people he's helped. Or, all the music stars he's friends with. Yep, it needs to make its way to the U.S.A.
