Axis of Easy Listening

I'm sure you've all heard by now that Yusef Islam, nèe Cat Stevens, has been denied entry to the US after being placed on a "watch list" of possible terrorism suspects. Naturally, as both a fan and friend of Yusef's, I found this incident shocking. Can you believe people still remember Cat Stevens?! Last time I was in an airport, I couldn't even place which member of the Thompson Twins was handling my luggage! How embarrassing. I guess if changing your name, converting to Islam and supporting the Rushdie fatwa doesn't drive away the fans, nothing will.

This shouldn't have come as such as surprise though. A few commentators have noted the irony of hassling a Seventies folk-pop icon while Osama Bin Laden himself continues to ride through the desert on a horse with no name. But in fact, the FBI has been taking a hardline on soft rock for a number of years now, as demonstrated by this internal document recently obtained by Lomblog:




So far, they've busted up some K-Tel Mellow Gold training cells in Southern California, but The Eagles Greatest Hits remains a top-seller. Then there are the new wave of threats posed by artists like John Mayer and Norah Jones. Look for another round of red alerts when the Grammy nominations are announced early next year.

I wish I could say Cat's saga inspired me to start a crusade against the racial profiling of Muslims, but mostly I've just been listening to the audio track of my Harold And Maude DVD.

Unboarding the peace train,
LF