Maui Recovery ... and George Michael. Always
I started writing about the Wham! Documentary for July recommendations and next thing I knew, I had written enough for a whole newsletter. Is this why therapists recommend journaling?
Maui Recovery Options: As we see the impacts of human made climate change around the world, what happened on Maui last week is no different and just as devastating, and very tied to imperialism (in this case US imperialism) and settler colonialism as well. Maui, its communities and people will have a lot to recover from. If you are able please consider supporting local, native and trusted recovery an fundraising efforts below.
Maui Just Recovery Fund hosted by the Amalgamated Foundation, supports immediate relief efforts to house, feed and support displaced families and dedicate resources for the long term efforts to rebuild and advance structural change. Partners of the Fund include: Maui Mutual Aid: Local volunteer led response; Our Hawai’i: Grassroots Organizing; ‘Āina Momona: Environmental health and sustainability; Funder Hui: Serving Hawaiʻi’s philanthropic community; Kākoʻo Maui: The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA); Onipa‘a Maui; Hawai‘i’s People Fund
A Post Dedicated to George Michael
Since the Wham! Documentary came out last month, I’ve been back with my old friend George Michael. His songs are always on my regular shuffle but a little more often now. There are a few recent documentaries, made by George Michael, his estate and Andrew Ridgeley that are worth watching, both for the nostalgia and real windows into the life behind the camera. He fought the Rupert Murdoch empire and paid for it when the full force of its UK tabloid homophobic wrath turned on him. He was arrested for public “lewdness” in the US which forced his sexuality out in the public, and instead of hiding or apologizing, he made a music video about it. I don’t know why George Michael is so important to me, but his music gives me joy and also lets me be mellow.
Documentary: Wham! (Netflix): This came out on July 5th, the 30th anniversary of their first album debut! It was made and produced by Andrew Ridgeley, with lots of personal recordings and pictures, support from the George Michael estate, AND Ridgeley’s mom’s scrapbooks - which are so cute, and many! Andrew Ridgeley curated what he shared and wanted to frame, and what he loves about George Michael, WHAM! and his friend.
Documentary: Freedom Uncut (Rental Streaming and on Delta in flight!!): This was made and produced by George Michael and his estate, it was almost complete when he died in December 2016. This is the most personal and you get more from him about his family, love and challenges, and his own reactions to so many iconic moments - Wham!, his solo career with Faith, the famous SuperModel video directed by music video director David Fincher, Last Christmas, his fights with the record label, his “forced” coming out, his iconic duets with Elton John and Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige, Paul McCartney (on a song he wrote in homage to McCartney), Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, AND his iconic cover of Somebody to Love for the Freddie Mercury memorial concert - which he sang after finding out that his partner was diagnosed with AIDS. He was not publicly out during this concert so knowing that backstory makes this performance even more powerful than it is on its own.
“I went out there knowing I had to honor Freddie Mercury and I had to pray for Anselmo,” Michael said in the film, which was produced before he passed away in 2016. “I just wanted to die inside. I was so overwhelmed by singing the songs of this man I had worshiped as a child, who had passed away in the same manner my first living partner was going to experience.” - George Michael
Carpool Karaoke: Everyone knows Carpool Karaoke now, but it wouldn’t be the huge thing it is without George Michael’s willingness to do this first ever version! I love George too much to blame him for James Corden’s talk show (not a Corden fan!)
Listening to His Music!
My favorite of all his albums is Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1 - with Heal the Pain and Praying for Time, his haunting cover of Stevie Wonder’s They Won’t Go When I Go, and of course Freedom ‘90. Vol 2 never came out because of his battles with Sony. Interestingly enough, this album, outsold Faith in the UK and many other countries, but many of my US friends don’t even know the album because of this label fight!
Then of course Faith, and Wham: Make it Big and Wham: Edge of Heaven! His career in the US was often fueled by his popularity on Black stations unlike the other white pop stars of his time. And there is a lot in his documentary about what it meant for a white artist to win traditionally “Black” awards, and in the interviews, he both got the issue and didn’t always get it.
Also, WhamRap! (which captured the Thatcher economic impact on young people) and WhamRap86. seriously the early 80s were something. I always loved Everything She Wants, but also hated it cause it is pretty misogynistic but now apparently we are learning that it’s about capitalism. Sure George. Sure. And of course the Choose Life t-shirts in Wake me Up Before You Go-Go, which have nothing to do with abortion!