Nicole Hughes
May 9, 2008 | 1:44 pm EST
The Women’s Freedom Song Contest is looking for the best song for Women’s Day March 8, 2010, to be sung by women all around the world at the same time, on the same day.
According to the site womensfreedomsong.com:
This is a groundbreaking event in the history of women’s fight for freedom and equality throughout the ages. Imagine the world echoing with the voices of women everywhere singing to demonstrate their unity. Surely we will be heard up to the heavens! And if the men folk want to join in, they are welcome too! Just start practicing your harmonies!
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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Mother’s Day is this Sunday (don’t forget!), so be sure to take a look at some of the great posts we’ve put together in celebration of moms everywhere! Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!
Katie Halper:
Hillary Andrews Will Not Lick Bob Stokes’ Swizzle Stick
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Nicole Hughes:
Top 10 Green Gift Wrap Ideas For Mothers Day
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Andy Kondrat:
Tornado Devestated Town Rebuilds As Green Model Community
Radiohead Attempts An Eco-Friendly World Tour
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Jon Popham:
Nepalese Art Photography: Rubin Museum of Art
America’s First Wind-Powered City
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Giulia Rozzi:
Women For Women International Celebrates Mothers Day
Even More on the Kentucky Derby
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Gina Telaroli:
Embarking on a world tour as of yesterday, Radiohead are trying to educate their fans about what the band is doing to reduce its carbon footprint while on the road, attempting to create an eco-friendly world tour.
Now, I know this is the third time I’ll have mentioned Radiohead. I know our very own Giulia Rozzi wrote about Radiohead two days ago. I also know that our very own Jon Popham recently talked about Prince covering the band at Coachella (though I wasn’t there this time around, I did get to see the Daft Punk set in 2006 and can die happy for that reason), but it seems Radiohead just keep on doing the right thing and making environmental headlines, or whatever.
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Looptopia, Chicago’s all night artistic and cultural extravaganza begins at 5PM local time in, where else, The Loop! Artists, musicians, theater performances, films, interactive new media and dance performances will be going from sunset to sunrise and beyond in Chicago’s famous downtown district. 14 hours of culture beginning at 5PM and lasting till the sunrise celebration in Millenium Park at 7AM. So if you’re in the Windy City go get your Loop on and revel your way through all the culture Chicago has to offer.
Shepard Fairey, fresh off the opening of his new Subliminal Projects gallery, will be showing work at this week’s LA vs WAR event in downtown Los Angeles. Fairey, who gained fame with his ubiquitous “Obey” and “Giant” poster campaigns, will be one amongst hundreds of visual artists with work on display at the event. Also on tap will be a Graffiti & Stencil Garden, DJ performances and film & video screenings.
According to their website:
“LA vs WAR highlights the travesty of a senseless war now going into its 6th year, giving LA artists a platform to exercise their freedom of speech. Hundreds of artists representing our diverse communities unite in delivering a universal message of peace and understanding, and offering resistance and opposition to the US government’s war policies.”
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Music festivals such as Lollapalooza in Chicago and the Treasure Island Music Festival in San Francisco are doing their best to ensure that these behemoths of show are leaving the environment green after the music is done. Lollapalooza, scheduled for August 1-3, and Treasure Island, slated for September 20-21, both are touting their efforts concerning environmental awareness.
A group of over 20 female singers, including Anya Donelly, Britta Phillips, Lori McKenna, Jill Sobule with John Doe, Veruca Salt, Kristin Hersh, Josie Cotton, and The Watson Twins are joining musical forces to record new versions of Neil Young’s most popular, pre-1980 acoustic ballads. Proceeds from the collection, titled Cinnamon Girl, will benefit Casting for Recovery, a cancer charity.
As explained on their site Casting For Recovery (CFR) is a national non-profit support and educational program for women who have or have had breast cancer. They provide an opportunity for women whose lives have been profoundly affected by the disease to gather in a beautiful, natural setting and learn fly-fishing, “a sport for life.” Just as importantly, they offer an opportunity to meet new friends and have fun. Their weekend retreats incorporate counseling, educational services and the sport of fly-fishing to promote mental and physical healing. Founded in 1996, Casting for Recovery has been offering free retreats across the country.
CFR relies heavily on volunteers and donations to offer it’s free retreats, so 
and visit castingforrecovery.org to get give or get involved.
Surfer-turned-songwriter Jack Johnson is, like, totally rad, if I may lapse into my native Valley Girl dialect for a moment. This famously mellow musician chooses, as Rolling Stone notes, to live “close to nature,” despite being a world famous folkie:
It’s the way he was raised, and the way he raises his two young sons with his wife of eight years, Kim. In Oahu, the Johnsons live in a modest single-level home, perched on the side of a hill where Jack can see the surf below. He doesn’t get cable, which means no TV reception at all ” “That’s a time-killer, man,” he says ” and he happily admits that he lives outside the pop-culture loop”
“Johnson spends his days outdoors: fishing, surfing, kayaking, swimming or just doing yardwork and looking at the waves. At night, when his boys ” ages four and two, whose names Johnson wishes to keep private ” are sleeping and the house is quiet, he’ll stay up late reading The New York Times online or digging into a book.
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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Don’t miss these excellent posts on some very engaging and thoughtful topics - from going green at the office to Julian Beever to dystopian film telling us to take action now. Check out our most popular articles of the week on a variety of subjects, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites.
Katie:
Katoucha’s Body Found: Model Helped African Women Escape Mutiliation
Julian Beever Brings Art to New Orleans Sidewalks
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Nicole:
Heath Ledger Nick Drake Video for “Black Eyed Dog” Hits Web
Top 10 Ways to Go Green in the Office
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Gina:
Top 10 Dystopian Future Films Telling Us to Take Action Now
Going to “The Edge of Heaven” with Fatih Akin
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Kerry:
One of Heath Ledger’s last creative endeavors was a short film/video for Nick Drake’s “Black Eyed Dog.” Ledger admitted to being “obsessed” with Drake, a 1970s folk singer, who also died from a prescription drug overdose at a young age. Ledger was the actor, director and cameraman for this previously little known project. Although Ledger’s death has been ruled an accident, the video has prompted further speculation about his state of mind leading up to the incident.
According to Defamer.com, before last week the video was only screed twice: “Labor Day weekend at the Bumbershoot festival in Seattle and a second time in October at ‘A Place to Be,’ an event honoring Drake held in L.A.” It was shown again on Wednesday, February 27th on the Australian “A Current Affair.” The clip is below.
Affair reports that the final scene, which is “too graphic for them to broadcast,” depicts Ledger succumbing to the “dog” (Winston’s Churchill’s well-known description of depression) and drowning himself in a bathtub. The melody itself, however, is quite beautiful and hauntingly complimented by Ledger’s black and white images.
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