David & Sue for Kosovo Children.
Originally printed in the "Just David Fan Club" newsletter by President Barbara Pazmino.
The annual John Lennon Songwriting Contest winners announcement was held from 12:30 to 2:00 near "Strawberry Fields" a section of the park which is in honor of the late-great John Lennon and just across the street from The Dakota, where John & Yoko lived.
Around 10:15 a.m., David and Sue walked down the pathway surprising fans who had arrived early. Brian Rothschild, Executive Director of The J.L. Songwriting Contest Bus introduced David & Sue who came out and to explain how they are recording an updated versio of "Message to the World" to help the Kosovo refugee children. The song was recorded with both celebrity voices and voices of the American public. The J.L. Songwriting Contest Bus was also a mobile recording studio and teaching facility that travels to high schools and music festivals across the country promoting the art of songwriting. The bus was donating it's services to the recording of "Message" by encouraging ordinary people in cities it visits to come on board and sing "Message" into the mike along with the demo.
David explained how in the end, the public and celebrity voices were going to be mixed to the final version which to be sold on the Internet to raise money for the Kosovo children, for clothing food and supplies.
David said he was glad to be back in his home and he wanted this to be an on-going project whereby voices keep on being added to it from across the U.S.A. They introduced Narada Michael Walden, producer of "Message" and Fugees guitarist Wyclef Jean (who did the guitar track over the song), Eat'M founder Lisa Tenner, and a representative from the War Child charity. Each of them spoke of their support of the project and the initial contribution from David, Sue and others.
David and Sue then played and sang the demo of "Message To The World" to the audience so that they could acquaint themselves with the song. They included the newly changed ending of the lyrics to "The children need our help, everybody say yeah!"
The contest winners were announced and as the winning rock band, Dexter Freebish, played, David and Sue watched and danced before going into the bus to take a break.
After folk music winner Joel Cage performed, David and Sue came back out and the actual recording of the song was done. They encouraged everyone not to feel hesitant or embarrassed even if they couldn't sing well. The important thing was just to sing. David then told his JUST DAVID FAN CLUB MEMBERS who'd come to support them, to come up to his and Sue's microphone and sing with them.
Following the recording, David and sue signed some autographs and individually thanked the fan club member for coming and supporting this cause. A few minutes later they got into a van and were driven out of the Park, waving through the windows. The Central Park event, minus the actual recording of "Message" could be viewed on www.woodstock.com up until June 5th. Click HERE to see Denise Gardner's photos from this event.
