Bob Crespo

Be reasonable, but only within reason. You’ve got to draw lines beyond which you will not go. Some people’s idea of being reasonable is having you do all the compromising while they have things all their own way. That’s not reasonable at all. Tell them you’ll get back to them when they rethink their thinking. Maybe.

The Time: Sunday , November 2, 9:00 A.M

The Place: 88th Street and 4th Avenue, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn

The Three Reasons: First and foremost, to hear The Tash Brothers Band playing live on the streets of Brooklyn, the hottest rock & blues band on the planet. Secondly, to donate non-perishable food items to City Harvest to be donated to the hungry of New York City. And third, by the way, there’s a race going on in the city streets. It’s a little thing called The NYC Marathon and this year 39,000 people are running the 26 mile course.

So kill 3 birds with one stone and fill up an otherwise boring Sunday morning with one of the most exciting spectacles of Autumn in New York. Hear great music, donate food to our brothers and sisters who need it and witness 39,000 screaming maniacs in speedos cheering for the Tash Brothers as they boogie down 4th Avenue right at the beginning of the marathon. You got anything better to do this Sunday morning? It’s a day you’ll never forget and you’ll be home in time for your football games. What’s not to love with all your heart? Be there! -Bob Crespo, Tash Brother at large, and I approve his message.

Don’t waste good anger on trivial things. When somebody is angry all the time, their anger means nothing. There’s no telling what’s important to these clowns and it’s best to avoid them.

The news that China and India are sending astronauts into space and probes to the moon leads one to wonder what’s next for these 2 emerging world powers. By doing exactly what others have done 40 years earlier, you have to figure that it won’t be long before they develop disco music and teen movies. Since they’re so busy breaking old ground, they might as well start gearing up their societies for the 1970’s.

Let’s see, that means they can have Elvis die, whoever the Chinese and Indian Elvises (or maybe the plural is Elvi?) might be. Leisure suits will become popular with older guys. India’s already on board with political scandals but the Chinese will need to step up and throw one of their leaders under the bus of public scorn, assuming they allow any of their citizens to speak up anytime soon. Music lovers will have to get into walkman players and boom boxes, playing those new-fangled cassette tapes, of course.

Both nations already have their fair share of whacky cults, so they’re ahead of the curve there, except maybe to have one of them commit mass suicide or something equally dramatic. Not to worry on that front, wacky cults can be counted on to think of something bizarre to grab headlines. The Falun Gong crew in China shows promise the way they keep beating their heads against policemen’s truncheons.  

But both China and India need to move aggressively into the past now that they have joined the space race pretty much after it is over. If they want to be superpowers, perhaps a Cold War with one another would be a good idea. They’ve got a history of mutual hostility already and both of them have plenty of nuclear bombs so maybe a little international saber-rattling and scaring the crap out of the rest of world is in order. A few dangerous international incidents would go a long way towards cementing their status as world-class jerks.

Then in ten years or so their societies can move into the 1980’s. They could begin dismantling their heavy industries and shipping their citizens’ jobs overseas. Perhaps have an AIDS epidemic break out and ignore it other than condemning the afflicted while it spreads like wild fire. Then again, neither of these nations might not notice that since so many of them die every year of starvation already. Maybe they’ll figure the AIDS victims are just more starving people as they shrivel and die. 

Figure a ME Generation to spring up, complete with with yuppies, conspicuous consumption and a boom in Mercedes Benz and Rolex sales. Cocaine will be a problem with young corporate suits and the new breed of nightclub people who will frequent the Studio 54-type of clubs that will spring up. Celebrity cults will be started around people whose only apparent talent is being famous. Rock musicians will get turned off by the glitz and glitter and Asian Punk Music will be born. VCRs will be introduced, microwave ovens, maybe even salad shooters and useless abdomen exercise gadgets. Self help books, spy thrillers and romance novels will proliferate. 

Graffiti will spring up everywhere, and some of it will be called art. Japanese cars will start dominating the auto markets. Everything they wear will have labels saying “Made in The Philippines.” Their space craft will start to get old and one or two will blow up, then they’ll sort of lose interest in the space program. Then it will be the 1990’s for China and India and everyone will get a cell phone and a computer. Maybe not everyone, since a large portion of the people in both those nations don’t even have running water, never mind luxuries like electricity, air conditioning or food. But being forward-looking countries, they don’t let the inconvenient fact that so many of their people die of starvation every year stop them from exporting a whole lot of food. 

Nor do they hesitate to spend billions on nukes and space ships. Hopefully they’ll learn from the Soviet Union that having super-power status doesn’t impress your own citizens all that much when their lives are miserable. Nobody conquered the Soviet Union, it just collapsed under the weight of its own sheer unmanageability and huge pieces of it spun off into enough new independent countries to send the good people at Rand-McNally into overdrive redrawing world maps. Life for the average citizen of the Soviet Union was a cakewalk compared to life for the average person in India and China, who have about 400 million malnourished citizens between them. That’s twice the amount of people than live in modern day Russia. 200 million Indians and 200 million Chinese who are living hungry all the time. Rand-McNally waits with bated breath.

Do not think about a giraffe in a tuxedo today. Woops, too late!  The power of the written word strikes again.

Today is a day for more song lyrics. This song can be heard for free by clicking on the Music menu on bobcrespo.com. I wrote this song a dozen or more years ago and it’s called “WHAT ABOUT THE HUNGRY?” It was was recorded by The Tash Brothers Band at Electric Plant in Brooklyn. -Bob Crespo

I TELL YOU-

I’M AN AMERICAN, I GOT AMERICAN DREAMS

I WONDER-

JUST HOW THE HELL I CAN, NOT COME APART AT THE SEAMS

I’M THINKING-

WE GOT A POT OF GOLD, WE GOT THE WORLD BY THE TAIL

IT SEEMS LIKE-

SOMEHOW A LOT OF GOLD SOMEHOW GOT LOST IN THE MAIL

YOU KNOW I LOVE MY NATION ‘CAUSE WE ALL GET A SHOT 

BUT EVERY GENERATION HAS ITS HAVES AND HAVE-NOTS

AND SO I ASK YOU:

WHAT ABOUT THE HUNGRY

WHAT ABOUT THE POOR

WHAT ABOUT THE HOMELESS 

KNOCKING ON THE DOOR

WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN

WHAT ABOUT THE OLD

WHAT ABOUT THE HELPLESS

STANDING IN THE COLD

OH TELL ME-

WILL MY AMERICA, EVER LIVE UP TO THE PLAN

I WONDER-

WHEN WILL AMERICA FINALLY DO WHAT IT CAN

I’M THINKING-

TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO, JEFFERSON WROTE IT ALL DOWN

IT SEEMS LIKE-

SOMEWHERE ALONG THE ROAD, SOMEHOW IT ALL TURNED AROUND

YOU KNOW OUR CONSTITUTION AIN’T JUST WORDS ON A PAGE

AND OUR REVOLUTION WAS NO PLAY ON A STAGE

AND SO I ASK YOU:

WHAT ABOUT THE HUNGRY

WHAT ABOUT THE POOR

WHAT ABOUT THE HOMELESS

KNOCKING ON THE DOOR

WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN

WHAT ABOUT THE OLD

WHAT ABOUT THE HELPLESS

STANDING INTHE COLD

OH TELL ME-

WHY DOES THE GOVERNMENT FORGET WHO’S PAYING THE BILLS

I WONDER-

JUST WHERE THE MONEY WENT AND JUST WHO’S POCKETS GOT FILLED

STILL THINKING-

DOES ANY SENATOR, DOES ANY CONGRESSMAN KNOW

WHAT SEEMS LIKE-

WHAT ANY JANITOR, WHAT ANY TRUCK DRIVER KNOWS

YOU CAN’T ENJOY THE PARTY WHEN THEY WON’T LET YOU IN

YOU CAN’T GET YOUR LIFE STARTED WITH NO PLACE TO BEGIN

AND SO I ASK YOU:

WHAT ABOUT THE HUNGRY?

Pizza is important.

Todays blog is the lyrics to a song I wrote called “WHO’S GOT THE MONEY?”

YOU WORK SO HARD TO GET YOUR DOUGH

YOU SWEAT AND YOU SLAVE EVERY DAY

YOU WONDER WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES 

AND WHAT YOU’VE GOT TO SHOW FOR YOUR PAY

THE TAX MAN IS YOUR PARTNER, HE’S GOT YOU ON THE SPOT

HE TAKES HIS CUT RIGHT OFF THE SPOT

WHO’S GOT THE MONEY

WHO’S GOT THE MONEY

WHO’S GOT THE MONEY

HONEY, WHERE’D THAT MONEY GO

THERE’S TAX ON BOOZE AND CIGARETTES

THE NIGHTCLUBS, THE PLAYS AND THE SHOWS

THERE’S TAX ON MOVIES, GAMES AND BETS

IF BREATHING WAS FUN THEY’D TAX YOUR NOSE

THEY’RE GONNA TAX YOUR CHILDREN, YOUR HUSBAND OR YOUR WIFE

AND WHEN YOU DIE THEY’LL TAX YOUR LIFE

WHO’S GOT THE MONEY

WHO’S GOT THE MONEY

WHO’S GOT THE MONEY

HONEY, WHERE’D THAT MONEY GO

THE MORE I MAKE, THE MORE IT COST

TO PAY FOR MY BILLS AND THE RENT

IT ALWAYS SEEMS LIKE SOME GETS LOST

HEY TELL ME WHERE MY MONEY WENT!

SOMETIMES MY MONEY GOES LIKE WATER GOES THROUGH SAND

THAT AIN’T THE WAY I HAD IT PLANNED

WHO’S GOT THE MOINEY

WHO’S GOT THE MONEY

WHO’S GOT THE MONEY

HONEY,  WHERE’D THAT MONEY GO

WHO’S GOT THAT?

WHO’S GOT THAT?

WHO’S GOT THAT?

WHO’S GOT THAT?

WHO’S GOT THAT?

WHO’S GOT THAT?

WHERE’D THE, WHERE’D THE, WHERE’D THE, WHERE’D THE?

WHERE’D THAT MONEY GO

WHERE’D THAT MONEY GO

WHERE’D THAT MONEY GO

WHERE’D THAT MONEY GO?

There will be plenty of time to shut up about injustice when you’re dead. Meanwhile, you’ve got a voice and a good mind. Speak out.

Human rights are always a hot topic. There’s simply not enough of them in this world, otherwise the subject would never come up. There was a famous document written 232 years ago declaring that certain human rights were self-evident and inalienable, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It was the America Declaration of Independence, whose words still ring loud and true all these years later. It remains the gold standard of human rights declarations. That first right is the most basic, the right to life, to live, to be alive, without which any and all other human rights are pretty useless.

The right to be alive by necessity means the right to eat. In this world 36,000 people die every single day from starvation. That’s one dead human being every 2.4 seconds. Already a couple are gone by the time you have read this far down the page. Starvation is a prolonged and agonizingly painful death, and the vast majority of its victims are children under the age of 5. This happens in a world where food is plentiful. Little children with no disease are suffering horribly and dying by the tens of thousands each day! How can the rest of the world turns its back?

This has been going on for far too long. Even one child dying of hunger is a sickening disaster, the needless loss of a precious young life. Think of your own children, your nieces and nephews or grandchildren and all the kids in the neighborhood who keep the place joyously alive with the music of their laughter and their rambunctious play. Aren’t they all precious, special and irreplaceable? Yes, yes they are, every last one of them. What would you do to protect them from harm? What wouldn’t you do? And what if you lost a child? Would you ever get over it?

Multiply that by 36,000 times a day and imagine the immeasurable sorrow of starvation. The feeling of helplessness by parents unable to provide even the barest necessity of life to their child is devastating. And countless other children who somehow survive prolonged hunger are mentally impaired for life, their minds and bodies deprived of the nourishment required to develop their mental and physical faculties. Who will care for these sub-normal adults? Who will replace their lost skills and labors in society? 

Let our new President, Barack Obama, together with the United Nations declare that all people of this earth have The Universal Right To Eat. While we may not be able to feed every starving child right away, let it be announced as official policy of the most powerful nation on earth and of the United Nations. Force the issue on the world stage and apply public pressure on food-rich nations to help starving people wherever they live, no matter what anybody thinks of the policies of their governments. The United States can lead the effort by shipping food on a massive scale to areas where starvation exists. The United Nations can use their blue-helmeted peacekeeping troops to distribute this food, a neutral party posing no political or military threat to the governments in question.

The Universal Right To Eat must be promoted on a global scale and made the official policy of every nation on earth, either by example, political arm-twisting or trade sanctions. Let it be the cornerstone of any treaty, trade agreement or commercial dealings of any sort between nations. This world can and must feed the hungry. While this time of severe financial crisis has many people wondering if the world can afford to so, the truth is that the world cannot afford not to. The United States of America, even in the face of the loss of much of our international good will and respect, is still the only nation on earth that can implement this plan effectively and give it instant credibility. If America makes it a priority and backs it up with swift and decisive action, the world will follow suit. Good will can be as contagious as enmity.

This nation produces more food than any other on earth and can produce more still. We need not demand any reforms from any government whose people we feed, only that they make sure the food gets to them. We can also pressure those nations who export food while their own citizens die of hunger to feed their own people before they ship any food overseas. China and India are 2 such countries. The vast underutilized farmlands of Russia could be put into production as well, and such a humanitarian act would go a long way towards Russia’s goal of regaining international respect, and in positive ways never dreamed of by the old Soviet Union.

The Right To Eat must become an international cause, promoted only because it is the right thing to do, and for no other reason or for monetary or overt political gain. The political gain will come anyway. Nothing makes friends like sharing food, either on a personal or an international level. No one would need to fear seeing American or Russian planes landing in their airports or their ships docking in their harbors like in the bad old days of the Cold War. When these planes and ships are loaded with food, modern farming and irrigation equipment and agricultural technicians and teachers, the welcome mat will be out in all nations. Is there a better common cause out there to motivate nations to cooperate? Ending world starvation is a cause no government can condemn, at least not out loud. The Right To Eat is a right no country can openly deny their citizens and a serious worldwide effort to end starvation can succeed in our lifetime, hopefully sooner. 

All it needs to get the ball rolling is one world leader to speak out with passion and authority to challenge the world to be a better world. There are many things about this world we cannot change. Feeding everybody something we can change, we must change. History will look back at a time when 36,000 people used to die every day of starvation and wonder what sort of people would allow that to happen in a bountiful world. And history will record the day it stopped, the day the world recognized the Universal Right To Eat. Let us wage peace on one another and feed our hungry and desperate brothers and sisters. Let them know we have not abandoned them. Give them The Right To Eat.