Yusuf, the Cat
by Live Music Head
I grew up listening to Cat Stevens.
Particularly the songs on Tea for the Tillerman,
the album my older brother would constantly play
back in the 1970s.
In the house we grew up in,
and in the car he drove me around in.
I have fond memories of hearing him sing along
to songs like
Wild World and Where Do The Children Play?
My brother was ten years older than me,
and his voice sounded as deep as
the one I heard on the record.
My mother always wanted to hear
Hard Headed Woman.
Over the years,
I've remained a fan of the singer-songwriter,
while his songs became iconic.
Despite growing up to be an avid concert-goer however,
I have not seen Cat Stevens perform live, ever.
And that's because he hasn't toured since 1976.
After a brush with death, Stevens converted to Islam,
changed his name to Yusuf,
and left behind a career in music
for something more meaningful.
Yusuf was on that spiritual road of discovery
when the Salman Rushdie incident happened.
In 1988, after writing the Satanic Verses,
the India-born, British author caused such outrage in Muslims
who deemed his book blasphemous,
that the Ayatollah Khomeini,
then-leader of Iran,
declared a fatwa against him,
and assassination attempts were made.
Yusuf Islam publicly declared Rushdie should die,
but later regretted it,
claiming naiveté.
Following the terrorist attacks in the U.S. on 9/11,
Yusuf decided to pick up his guitar again
to sing his songs of peace.
Earlier this year,
in an article for Rolling Stone magazine, he said:
"Even with the entire world sinking deeper into despair,
we can still sing!
The spirit of humanity can be subdued,
but never vanquished.
And nothing brings out that spirit like a good song."
One of the most entertaining bits I saw was in 2010
when he made an appearance in Washington
at Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's
Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.
Yusuf actually battled it out on stage with Ozzy Osbourne
playing Peace Train,
the children's book-inspired song
from Teaser and the Fire Cat,
against Crazy Train,
the first single from the front man
of Black Sabbath's debut album.
Look it up on Youtube,
it's hilarious!
A couple of weekends ago, I played the fool.
A fool who attempted to secure seats
at Cat Stevens' upcoming show at Toronto's Massey Hall,
the only Canadian stop on the singer-songwriter's
recently announced and highly-awaited tour.
The day they were to go on sale to the general public,
I was at the Ticketmaster website promptly at 10am,
ready to click on purchase.
I also had my cell phone to my ear
with Massey Hall’s Box Office phone number on speed dial.
I don't behave this way very often,
because it often results in nothing but wasted time.
And it was.
I got nothing but a constant busy signal on the phone
and by 10:02am,
the message on line said no tix were available.
Of course there were no tickets left.
People have been waiting to see Cat Stevens
for a very long time.
We couldn't blame scalpers this time either, could we?
Anyone tracking Yusuf in the news lately
knows his stance on scalpers;
them being the reason why
he decided to bring this tour to town,
paperless.
Unlike New York City
who wouldn’t comply with his paperless tickets request,
prompting Yusuf to cancel the show there,
Massey Hall complied.
A few days ago however,
I got wind that a corporate crook
who owns box seats at Massey Hall
is selling them to people for 1-2K per seat.
That's $1-2K per seat.
People!
That’s 1,000 to 2,000 fucking dollars!
Face value of the seats
are between $65.50 - $275.00 per seat.
You know,
I really wanted to take that brother of mine to the show,
for his birthday.
Because singer-songwriters like Cat Stevens
are meaningful to us,
the middle class folks who grew up with his music.
But more and more and more and more,
concert-going today is for the lucky,
or rather
the elite class, and the very greedy.
Cat Stevens performing Wild World...
The official website for Yusuf/Cat Stevens...
http://www.yusufislam.com/
