Lionel Richie: Huge In Iraq?

ABC News is reporting that Lionel Richie is the Fabian of Fallujah, the Ramones of Ramadi, and the Beatles of Bagdhad all rolled into one. When it comes to popularity Lionel is the Elvis of Aljazeera – a huge star in the Middle East. And who cares what the reason is? It’s the most hopeful story I’ve heard from that area in years. Why? Because somewhere down the road I’d like to think of humanity united by music instead of mayhem. I want to live in a world where the biggest bomb is the new CD by Yanni.
What is humanity best known for? Until the answer to that is grooving out or creating artwork, we are in trouble. This is what we should be doing: Becoming painters and poets. We don’t need more military troops – we need more dance troupes. The Neo-Cons should have been a punk rock group.
I actually saw Lionel Richie before he was Lionel Richie. Oh sure, he had some of the ballads going, but he was mainly a member of the Commodores and while “Three Times a Lady” was out, the song the crowd at Memorial Coliseum wanted to hear was “Brick House.” You ask me, Lionel should have stayed with that band. We were also there to hear the other band: The Brothers Johnson whom I went to see twice. If you think you’re a bass player you should research a guy named Louis Thunder Thumbs Johnson.
He had a horrible falling out with his brother George Lightnin' Licks Johnson, or they could have stuck around. That’s what’s wrong with this world. Members of the human family fighting – brothers not getting along with each other. And Iraq? Now I know what we did wrong. We sent the Marines when we should have sent the Commodores.
ABC News: Baghdad's Lionel Richie Obsession