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by Andrew ChulockAfter years of listening to Sting and the Police, Sting finally had the chance to listen to me.
Thankfully for him, I wasn't singing.
I just returned from a wedding in New Orleans. Shockingly, the wedding was the second item planned for that trip, the first being The Police Concert. You see, New Orleans was an announced tour stop before Miami, my home city, so some friends of mine decided to see the Police in New Orleans even while knowing that eventually the Police would tour in Florida as well. We'd simply see the band twice. My buddy Erik decided this would be a great time and place to marry his fiance Stacy, so they planned their wedding around the concert, or more accurately, right before the concert. Good thing his lovely bride is as much a Police fan as he is!
Fate has a funny way of popping its head sometimes. The morning after the concert all three of us were working out at the hotel's gym. We were just leaving the gym and catching the elevator up. Now I grant you the fact that we were in New Orleans, in a high end French Quarter hotel mere blocks from the New Orleans Arena the day after the concert might lead you to say that the odds were somewhat in our favor for the following chance encounter, but this is TRULY where there was some fate involved as well.
Jamming in the Elevator? No, the elevator was just jammed!
I walked into the elevator, my buddy Erik was next, then the door closed right behind him before his new wife could enter! He frantically was pushing DOOR OPEN to no success and finally simply pushed the floor we were already on and the doors opened.
Instead of his wife entering, IN WALKS STING!! (Followed by Stacy). I was completely oblivious to this fact at this point, even after she told him "Nice concert last night!" and "We got married right before the show". Sting was gracious, congratulating them, and even modest when Erik chimed in with "You were incredible last night!" Sting responded, "Well, I used to be". To which Erik countered, "No, you were!".
"Don't Stand So Close to Me" would have been a funny line at this point, though I'm sure Sting gets that in elevators a lot
At this point, Sting is standing directly in front of me in the elevator, and it's still not registering in my brain that THIS IS STING! Finally, it becomes apparent that my favorite singer of all time is sharing an elevator with us. Coming from the gym, I had neither pen nor paper and knew that an autograph would be impossible, (and in this state of sweat even a handshake was not going to be attempted) so the only thing that could come to mind was to turn to him and say: "I would ask you for your autograph, but I already have it!" Which, in fact, is the truth, I have all three band members autographs, that I purchased before they all got back together, and cost a lot more than the pen and paper that this one would have cost! Sting responded with "Is that right?" or words to that effect.
My Message from the Elevator
SO why bring this up on this particular web page anyway? The Police had a very famous song, which actually is my all time favorite, "Message in a Bottle". The chorus is "I'll send an S.O.S. to the world, I'll send an S.O.S. to the world, I hope that someone gets my message in a bottle..." Well, through Sting's lyrics and good deeds, millions have received his S.O.S., but in case you haven't I'm simply relaying it for him, by publishing some of the causes that he advocates on this web page.
Sting to me is more than simply a rock icon. He is a socially conscious world citizen and a good role model. Unlike recent artists that have taken a political side, Sting carefully navigates through the politics and instead focuses on causes. I think that this is a model that anyone that truly has a cause and wants to move people into action should follow, so that the politics are pushed to the side in favor of action. I am going to use this space to highlight some of these causes that Sting has championed over the years, starting with the current one that is a direct beneficiary of the world tour that the Police is undergoing right now:
This organization is decicated to bringing clean water to the third world.
Dedicated to human rights worldwide. This is one one of the first social causes that Sting was involved with back in the 80's. The Police performed a series of concerts back then to benefit Amnesty International
The Police is performing at Giants Stadium in New York as part of the Live Earth concert series, to raise awareness for Global Warming. (The concert has long been sold out. Sting was one of the first back in the 80's to bring attention to the problem of the deforestation of the rain forest in South America. He is. in fact, co-founder of the Rainforest Foundation:
http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/s-Index
http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/
He is an advocate for breast cancer detection, treatment and awareness
Using comedy to help raise awareness and funds for those in need.
http://www.davidfosterfoundation.org/
Providing financial and emotional help to the families of children needing organ transplants.
Sting is a supporter of the Elton John Aids Foundation
An alliance of stars that has managed to get industrialized nations to greatly reduce or elimnate their foreign debts
http://www.loveourchildrenusa.org/
Sting is also an advocate to break the cycle of violence against children.
http://www.grammy.com/MusiCares/
Sting is also a supporter of MusicCares, which provides a saftey net for people in the music business when they are undergoing hard times.
It is refreshing to know that there are some people with seemingly everything yet are globally aware of problems around them, and are inspired into action through peaceful means. In an industry such as music where self indulgence and sometimes self destruction seem so prevalent, it is nice to see artists such as Sting elevate their art into a platform to help others, selflessly. Thanks for the lift.
Copyright, 2007 Andrew Chulock, all rights reserved. For reprint information contact nonparti@nonpartisans.org
Past Articles: Darfur and the Iraq War
