I’ve got to be honest and admit that I don’t find them to be an attractive car at all, but with an ad like this I could almost be convinced to buy a Kia. Well maybe not … but I could be convinced to watch the ad a few more times.
Soul
Charity with Soul Steps Forward to Claim Shoes
If you’ve read this blog in the past you probably know that I visited Haiti last year and saw the desperate conditions under which so many are living. You may have also read my previous post talking about Soles4Souls , a wonderful organisation that provides shoes for those in need around the world.
Today I heard that Soles4Souls has stepped forward to collect the thousands of shoes mysteriously dumped on a Miami highway. They’ll then send them to the Caribbean nation of Haiti. Great news.
The start of the New Year turned ugly for many commuters in Miami on Friday, when drivers were delayed by several thousand pairs of shoes littering the highway. Nashville-based shoe charity Soles4Souls contacted the Florida Highway Patrol and offered to immediately collect the shoes on behalf of needy people it supports, both here in the United States and around the world.
“These shoes are abandoned property and we’re happy that Soles4Souls can make good use out them,” said Lt. Pat Santengelo of the Florida Highway Patrol.
Soles4Souls Founder and CEO, Wayne Elsey, said the sight of thousands of abandoned shoes was a stark reminder of how many shoes are tossed into American landfills. “Too many perfectly good shoes are thrown away each year, and it’s a shame,” he said. “Soles4Souls is dedicated to keeping usable footwear out of our landfills and putting them on the feet of needy people around the world,” he said.
Some great news to start the year.
If you want to help Soles4Souls in their great work you can visit their website and donate directly.
Guy Sebastian proves he's the real deal
You don’t get the true legends of soul music travelling half way around the world to serve as a backing band for someone unless they’ve proven that they have enormous talent.
Pauline and I went to the Perth Concert Hall on Saturday for the final show of Guy Sebastian‘s Memphis Tour. His touring band featured members of the legendary MGs.
You might know Steve “The Colonel” Cropper and Donald “Duck” Dunn from the Blues Brothers movie or from their work with Booker T and the MGs. Steve Cropper co-wrote songs like Dock of the Bay with Otis Redding as well as co-writing classics like Midnight Hour and Knock on Wood.
They brought fellow Memphis musicians, Lester Snell and Steve Potts with them to Australia and rounded out the band with some amazing Australian musicians.
They performed songs like Soul Man, Hold On I’m Coming, Hard To Handle, Under the Boardwalk, Lets Stay Together and finished up with a fantastic version of Shake Ya Tail Feather.
A highlight for me was when the band gave us a very tasty rendition of the Booker T and the MGs classic instrumental, Green Onions.
I’ve been to dozens of concerts and seen some of the world’s best performing and I’d have to say that this concert would be up there with the very, very best of them. When you get a band like that together the music is never in doubt. Match that level of musicianship with the extraordinary vocal talents of Guy Sebatian and you have an act that would impress audiences anywhere in the world.
If all you’ve ever seen or heard of Guy is his Australian Idol performances and his pop hit singles, as impressive as they are, you haven’t even begun to discover just how good he really is.
Looking around the audience it was obvious that it was a mixture of people who were there to see Guy and those who were there to see some living legends of soul music. I’m sure that those who simply wanted to see the band went home as true Guy Sebatian fans and that Guy’s fans went home totally sold out to soul music.
I interviewed Guy on 98.5 Sonshine FM back in October last year about The Memphis Album and about the upcoming tour. Back then he revealed that the MGs would join him on tour for the first time on Perth radio. The picture in this post was taken at the time of that interview. You can hear about his experience recording the album and working with the legends of soul music by clicking the play button on the audio player in this post.
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