virgin founder richard branson on charity and "dire straits" -

Richard Branson, the owner and founder of the virgin group, has recently committed to donating proceeds of coming years profits to charity. The total amount donated to charity could reach 3 billion dollars.

I read Branson's book recently, "losing my virginity", and he is certainly one of the most interesting entrepreneurs around and has been brilliant in building a brand name.

But he has had to overcome many obstacles, including British Airways attempt to destroy him, and the following excerpt from his book describes one of the more humorous bumps in his road. He has just met the band "dire straits" for dinner in anticipation of signing them the next day on the virgin label. This was very early in the history of virgin so it was a big deal.

"On the evening before we were due to sign contracts, we took the band out to our favorite greek restaurant off Westbourne Grove to celebrate it. It was an enjoyable meal. Since all the negotiations were out of the way we could relax and look forward to producing the record. At the end of the meal the Greek owner came out carrying two saucers, one upturned on top of the other. With a conjurer's flourish he lifted off the top one to reveal ten marijuana joints. I rarely took drugs after my LSD experience but this seemed a nice way to end the evening, and in order not to offend the restaurant manager, who clearly thought he was doing us all a great favor, I took one. Everyone smoked a joint and the evening wound down."

"The next morning Dire Straits called up and told us that they were going with PolyGram. No reason was given. Simon and I were horrified. We couldn't believe it."

"What's the matter?" Simon asked. "We've got everything in place. There's nothing more to agree."

"No reason," they said and cut off all communication with us.

"There was nothing Simon and I could do to persuade them to change their minds. It was only ten years later when I read a book about Dire Straits that two little sentences explained it:" "The band did not sign with Virgin since they thought that Virgin had plied them with drugs before signing to befuddle them."

"That well meaning, spontaneous gesture by the Greek manager, which Dire Straits had seemed to enjoy at the time, cost Virgin Records over 500 million. Meanwhile, Dire Straits went on to become one of the worlds top bands, with their album Brothers in Arms selling eighteen million copies."

MOBY on animal rights and it's relationship with the environment -

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"I work with the humane society quite closely and ultimately we have ethical goals. We want fewer animals to be killed for human purposes, we want fewer animals to suffer for human purposes but if you can accomplish environmental goals at the same time that's great. You know you have something like 40-50 billion animals on this planet who are being raised for livestock production all producing tons and tons of methane - almost just as much as all the consumer owned vehicles in the united states. I mean obviously being an activist can accomplish quite a lot but just being a consumer and how you spend your money and every time you spend money you're supporting a big corporation that most likely is not environmentally responsible. It's not that hard, it just requires a little bit of thought and a little bit of effort and a willingness to change. And more often then not you'll end up benefiting yourself and the world around you."

Please click the following link to view more information and videos on green related companies, resources and celebrities.

paul mcCartney - animal activist

"If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is just stop eating meat. That’s the single most important thing you could do. It’s staggering when you think about it. Vegetarianism takes care of so many things in one shot: ecology, famine, cruelty.”
--Sir Paul McCartney

Please click the following link to view more of paul mccartney's comments on animal welfare.

SCHWARZENEGGER - who'd have thunk it?

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Arnold Schwarzenegger the animal rights protector? That's right and his record as Governor has been very strong when it comes to animal rights. He passed a law making it illegal to chain up dogs for more than three hours. He also won many hearts and minds when he banned the cruel production of foie gras in california.

woody harrelson - environmental activist

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"In money we trust we will find happiness, the prevailing attitude, like a genetically modified, irradiated big mac is somehow symbolic of food? Morality is legislated, prisons overpopulated, religion is incorporated,... profit motive has permeated all activity...Can you imagine clean food, water and air? Living in a community with people who care? Do you dare to feel responsible for every dollar you lay down? Are you going to make the rich man richer or are you going to stand your ground? You say you want a revolution, a communal evolution, to be a part of the solution? Maybe I'll be seeing you around..."

- woody harrelson speaking at the university of california (santa barbara) , in the film go further

rage against the machine - "bulls on parade":

Put the kids to bed, it's "rage against the machine" and they're not very happy about the WTO.

pearl jam - "masters of war"

socially conscious band - pearl jam:

image credit: Time


Pearl Jam is one of my favorite bands and they happen to be very socially conscious and support many charities.

The first clip below is pearl jam performing the song "animal" live on stage.

This next video is a very funny play on the unique delivery of lead singer Eddie Vedder and what he might actually be saying.

socially conscious band - U2:

image credit: Music Heroes


Bono and U2 in general are the first celebrities I think of when it comes to using their social status to bring attention to world issues. The following song and video was performed with "green day" and it was meant to remind people that the victims of hurricane katrina are still and will be hurting for a long time and not to forget about them....as they were initially.

animal activist - moby

Moby, a strong animal activist and a new york city resident, with Gwen Stefani in "Southside".

21st annual genesis awards:

The 21st annual genesis awards took place recently which are the humane society's awards to the media and hollywood for spotlighting animal issues. Click the following link to view footage from the awards show and the red carpet.