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April Tour – Day 1

April 13, 2010

In News

I met the British-Iraqi rap artist Lowkey for the first time. Because I have watched his video so many times, I felt as if I already knew him. No big surprises, although he’s taller than I guessed — i.e., taller than me. I also met his friend Jody McIntyre, a wheelchair-bound British journalist who has covered all the hot spots in the Occupied Palestinian Territories including the evictions in East Jerusalem, the nonviolent demonstrations in Bilin, and Gaza after the invasion. We worked out a joint program that will combine my own overview of the what happened in Gaza, Jody’s first-hand experiences and Lowkey’s climactic rap performance. I should mention that Lowkey’s wonderful manager Nancy Leigh was also there. They all possess the irrepressible energy and joy of youth. I cannot keep up. They wanted me to perform on a radio program that Nancy hosts a very clever rap that Lowkey spontaneously wrote but — what can I say? — it wasn’t me. I hate to be the party-pooper but even in my prime I wasn’t what you — or anyone else — would call “hip.”