posted on July 3, 2004 09:21:46 AM new
Powell Sings 'YMCA' at Security Meeting
JAKARTA, Indonesia (July 2) - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell donned a hard hat and tucked a hammer in his belt Friday, performing a version of the Village People's hit "YMCA" at the conclusion of Asia's largest security meeting.
Tradition dictates that the meeting wrap up with a night of song and dance, provided by the diplomats themselves.
In 1997 Madeleine Albright, then secretary of state, bowled over the ministers when she performed a musical skit dressed as Evita Peron.
On Friday, Powell danced alongside five other U.S. officials sporting costumes that included an Indian headdress.
The group blasted out a version of the 1970s disco classic, to the delight of foreign ministers from across the Asia-Pacific and Europe.
"President Bush, he said to me: 'Colin, I need you to run the Department of State. We are between a rock and a hard place," Powell and his colleagues sang to the tune of the disco classic.
The after-dinner show is an annual highlight of the ASEAN Regional Forum, a time for ministers to loosen up after discussing security issues.
The event is closed to the press, but reporters regularly go out of their way to get the scoop.
The Russian delegation, headed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, sang a version of the Beatles "Yellow Submarine" as a woman waving a Russian flag ran around the dinner tables.
Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh read a poem before his delegation burst into a song.
"I'm not worried - but the audience should be," Singh said before attending the gala dinner.
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on July 3, 2004 09:23:03 AM new
You know we are all wishing we had a tape of that.
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on July 3, 2004 09:39:30 AM new
lol, yeah fenix I caught the end glimpse of it. (Not a whole lotta soul for a black man, either. Whats going on with that!?)
posted on July 3, 2004 10:55:22 AM new
Really ironic, given this government's stance on homosexuality, that Powell and the others dress up as a gay group & perform a take-off of one of their songs...
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We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. -- John F. Kennedy
posted on July 3, 2004 11:41:35 AM new
That's song has always been wildly popular in Asia. I doubt the Asians have any idea about the preferences of the Village People.
I always liked Liberace too, but that doesn't make me gay.
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We do not stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing -- Anonymous
posted on July 3, 2004 11:56:16 AM new
Yeah, but did you dress like him?
Memory Lane: When I was little, I used to watch Liberace show all the time (dating myself here). Absolutely love him! But it later life, I've always wondered how he got away with it the 50s and early 60s when the climate was much less accepting than it is today.
____________________
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. -- John F. Kennedy
posted on July 3, 2004 12:15:43 PM new"(Not a whole lotta soul for a black man, either. Whats going on with that!?)"
LoL Nero!
That's a good question Bunni. Maybe it's because not many people were like Liberace so they might have thought it was an act. Also, if you had great talent back then, I think "other" things might have been overlooked. Just guessing.
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. -- John F. Kennedy
posted on July 3, 2004 04:08:40 PM new
bunni and kraft, since I was in high school during the Civil War I remember the 50's and 60's well(the 1950-60's).
People like Liberace were "accepted" because of a certain naivete on the part of some but also because back then there wasn't this pervading, sick, psychotic need to know every detail of a celebrities life. You watched him on TV and forgot about him.
Back then your personal life was just that....personal.
