I love New York. The bazillion hour drive in our truck – a truck that seems to get more uncomfortable each day – wasn’t as loveable, we always THINK that leaving the night of the show and driving all night after working all day is the best idea ever, but it rarely is.
I love working here – I love talking to New Yorkers about the ONE campaign, getting them signed up and involved, and we get to meet so many other people from every corner of the world that you can imagine when you are here. I always meet people here that are doing awesome things for the campaign, whom have been inspired and moved by it. Also got to see Judy and Cindy for the first time in years – they came and volunteered at the first night and did an amazing job, as did Bob, our official New York volunteer. Bob also seems to attract celebrities; last time he helped, he rode in the elevator with Jay Z and Beyonce, this time, when riding the same elevator, we were with Lenny Kravitz, and on the floor we saw, randomly, Lars from Metallica. Go figure…
Patti Smith was another highlight – I am a huge fan, and it was awesome to see her play at MSG, and in some ways, it was even cooler to see her play with the arena only partially full; it actually made it feel more intimate. Saw a lot of the U2 crew on the floor for her set as well. Bono brining in her ‘People Have the Power’ to Bad is one of my favorite U2 moments currently, sounds cheesy, but it really connects with the work we are doing with ONE – to me, that is the idea behind this campaign, to get people to realize their power to help other people, and I love – again, I take the full blame for cheesiness here, but I digress – to hear 20,000 people singing the line ‘people have the power’ over and over again, still humming it as they leave the show. It was really inspiring to see Patti perform – she had a big influence on my musical tastes and how I approach politics and this sort of work. She also influenced REM’s Michael Stipe, and my other ‘favorite NYC moment’ of the week came as Smith and U2 launched into Instant Karma, and I looked around behind me to see Stipe looking like a five year old on Christmas – I have never seen anyone that excited at a show!
Instant Karma was amazing – invoking the spirit of Lennon, another champion of the power of people to do good. I happened to hear Smith and U2 rehearsing it and will probably always hold that minute or so as one of the cooler things to have happened to me at random.
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