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Who played Sun City?

Sinatra I can understand, given his (understandable but also monumental) sell out/betreyal and shift to the right, but I'm fairly shocked to see that Ray Charles played Sun City. He was a firm supporter of civil rights and refused to play segregated audiences back in the day (iirc).
 
selamlar said:
Sinatra I can understand, given his (understandable but also monumental) sell out/betreyal and shift to the right, but I'm fairly shocked to see that Ray Charles played Sun City. He was a firm supporter of civil rights and refused to play segregated audiences back in the day (iirc).
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Eartha Kitt has to be in the same league.
 
selamlar said:
Oh, for fucks sake. I should stop reading and be happy in my ignorance really, shouldn't I.
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As they was in theirs.

Considering that the US networks broadcast the first Mandela concert (1988) in a edited format which removed any political message, reference, or song, it's hardly surprising that American performers were just turning up and playing without any consideration for what might actually be going on under their noses....

...but it's no excuse and Ray Charles and Eartha Kitt should have been more self aware.
 
Nanker Phelge said:
As they was in theirs.

Considering that the US networks broadcast the first Mandela concert (1988) in a edited format which removed any political message, reference, or song, it's hardly surprising that American performers were just turning up and playing without any consideration for what might actually be going on under their noses....

...but it's no excuse and Ray Charles and Eartha Kitt should have been more self aware.
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Nah, bollocks. The idea that politically aware people who had been involved in the civil rights movement just sort of didn't notice that the only black faces* in the place were parking attendants etc. Don't let them off the hook that easily.



*yeah yeah. Ray Charles was blind etc. You know what I mean.
 
selamlar said:
Nah, bollocks. The idea that politically aware people who had been involved in the civil rights movement just sort of didn't notice that the only black faces* in the place were parking attendants etc. Don't let them off the hook that easily.



*yeah yeah. Ray Charles was blind etc. You know what I mean.
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I'm not letting them off the hook.
 
There was no real reason (although there were many spurious excuses) that artists could use to justify playing Sun City, especially as it was well-understood that the apartheid regime milked the full propaganda value of every artist that had little enough conscience to play there.
I can see artists being more wary about a cultural boycott of Israel, though, because while the SA govt took the Millwall defence ("no one loves us and we don't care") to the cultural boycott of SA, the state of Israel is far more likely to virulently play the "a boycott of Israel is anti-Semitism" card, one they've already played over the partial academic boycott.
Personally, I say "fuck 'em". Have a cultural boycott and leave them wallowing in their home-grown artistic scene. Maybe being deprived of any non-Israeli culture will motivate more Israelis to tell fat Benny and his gang of US passport-holding dickweeds to fuck off back to the states.
 
It's called Who Played Sun City? And what does the very first post say? The one that explicitly compares the boycott of Sun City in the 80s with present day cultural boycotts of Israel.
 
Liza Minelli, Julio Iglesias, Cher, The Beach Boys, The Osmonds and Paul Anka played Sun City. It's old news, but it's still lame. The Beatles refused to play in South Africa back in the '60s years before Sun City was built. Ringo Starr and his son Zak play drums on the song "Sun City" and appear in the video. I heard Gram Parsons refused to play in South Africa when he was a member of The Byrds and that disagreement eventually lead to him leaving the band.
 
Barry Manilow, Liberace, Dolly Parton, Sha Na na, Sinatra, Elton John, Liza Minelli, Rod Stewart, Leo Sayer, Cliff Richard, Showaddywaddy, Queen, Jean-Michel Jarre, Mr Freeze ... the list goes on and on... oh and I played there too working in the casino!
Great times - and when we heard that crappy "ain't gonna play Sun City" we all had a good laff scratching our heads about who the f' those guys were.
 
un City was certainly the most political of all of the charity rock albums of the 1980s. Little Steven organized a number of artists for this protest against apartheid, including such heavyweights as Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Jimmy Cliff, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Run-D.M.C, and Lou Reed. Thankfully, the result was extremely listenable, as well as fiercely political; it's one of the few charity or protest albums that stands up to repeated listenings, thanks to the extended instrumental workouts. Arguably the finest moment on the record is one that was added at the last minute -- a spare, stripped-down version of U2's "Silver and Gold" by Bono, Keith Richards, and Ron Wood.
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Forgive my scepticism, won't you?
 
Well you have to remember!!

We were just having a ball down there - working our asses off in the casino.
I'm just presenting the view from someone who was actually there.
We had plenty of world-class entertainment - and could care less who did or didn't 'play Sun City' - our view was - we didn't particularly want to see any of the guys who cut that record - they wouldn't have drawn the gamblers in any event.
And whether you like it or not - Sun City had no apartheid - we hung with Black, White and everyone else and got along just fine.
We didn't want Mandela in jail anymore than you did.
 
Casually Red said:
really disappointed with dionne warwick...ffs
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Really enjoyed my nearly twenty years at Sun City. Loved working with the 3 500 plus staff the resort employed. 90% from the surrounding rural population whose lives and children's futures changed dramatically for the better. I feel sorrow for those artist who weren't invited and felt the need therefor to criticise the resort. One which Michael Jackson visited more than once and was interested in purchasing. Sorry you weren't invited but maybe our producers thought you wouldn't fill the arena. Sour grapes.
 
Alex Hesquar said:
Really enjoyed my nearly twenty years at Sun City. Loved working with the 3 500 plus staff the resort employed. 90% from the surrounding rural population whose lives and children's futures changed dramatically for the better. I feel sorrow for those artist who weren't invited and felt the need therefor to criticise the resort. One which Michael Jackson visited more than once and was interested in purchasing. Sorry you weren't invited but maybe our producers thought you wouldn't fill the arena. Sour grapes.
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:D :hmm: :facepalm:
 
My memory from the time was that as it was originally situated in one of the nominally "self governing" black homelands where the segregation element of apartheid was less apparent, Sun City was heavily and quite cynically marketed as "this is how South Africa does equality" - so it is conceivable that some of the artists performing there could have been taken-in by the shite and actually believed they might be helping the black economy/equality issue in some way by playing there.

And if not, the obviously massive entertainment budget of the place must have helped salve any qualms.

I also remember them recruiting staff internationally, often students/newly graduated on the then equivalent of the gap year - they would pay in any currency to any bank anywhere, to avoid any issues they might have with SA Rands.
 
pogofish said:
My memory from the time was that as it was originally situated in one of the nominally "self governing" black homelands where the segregation element of apartheid was less apparent, Sun City was heavily and quite cynically marketed as "this is how South Africa does equality" - so it is conceivable that some of the artists performing there could have been taken-in by the shite and actually believed they might be helping the black economy/equality issue in some way by playing there.

And if not, the obviously massive entertainment budget of the place must have helped salve any qualms.

I also remember them recruiting staff internationally, often students/newly graduated on the then equivalent of the gap year - they would pay in any currency to any bank anywhere, to avoid any issues they might have with SA Rands.
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Yeah, during the apartheid years knew this guy who went over and iirc, was shown what he said was the "nicer" part of SA. Came back singing it's praises and claiming that everyone got on together. In hindsight, it sounds like he was on one of those official accompanied tours where the escort makes sure visitors don't see anything untoward or paints the regime in a bad light.
 
Alex Hesquar said:
Really enjoyed my nearly twenty years at Sun City. Loved working with the 3 500 plus staff the resort employed. 90% from the surrounding rural population whose lives and children's futures changed dramatically for the better. I feel sorrow for those artist who weren't invited and felt the need therefor to criticise the resort. One which Michael Jackson visited more than once and was interested in purchasing. Sorry you weren't invited but maybe our producers thought you wouldn't fill the arena. Sour grapes.
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This vintage is off
 
Alex Hesquar said:
Really enjoyed my nearly twenty years at Sun City. Loved working with the 3 500 plus staff the resort employed. 90% from the surrounding rural population whose lives and children's futures changed dramatically for the better. I feel sorrow for those artist who weren't invited and felt the need therefor to criticise the resort. One which Michael Jackson visited more than once and was interested in purchasing. Sorry you weren't invited but maybe our producers thought you wouldn't fill the arena. Sour grapes.
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It was 37 years ago. It's just possible one or more of the artists who played there might regret that they did so, if they are still alive. I'm sure all the posters here have have been a 100% comrade since birth and can't understand how anyone could have made questionable decisions in the past, but people do change and aren't necessarily permacunts. What have the artists said about it in subsequent interviews?
 
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platinumsage said:
It was 37 years ago. It's just possible one or more of the artist who played there might regret that they did so, if they are still alive. I'm sure all the posters here have have been a 100% comrade since birth and can't understand how anyone could have made questionable decisions in the past, but people do change and aren't necessarily permacunts. What have the artists said about it in subsequent interviews?
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Well Ray Charles in particular has been suspiciously quiet on the subject since this thread was started eleven years ago.

Are you officially applying for the job as our token right-winger then? I do have to let you know that there's no stipend attached.
 
I'm right-wing because I implied there is a chance that Freddie Mercury might be less of a cunt than Bono? I'd love the job but I'd experience imposter syndrome if I was appointed on that basis.
 
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