Friday February 28, 2003 @ 01:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

The beginning of the month means a new issue of Chart Magazine is on the streets and while we don’t usually toot our own horn in our daily news section, the March issue is a special one. For our Rock Star Written Issue we rounded up a bunch of music types and gave them a forum to write about whatever they wanted. Our cover boy, Our Lady Peace’s Raine Maida, decided he’d use his space to articulate his feelings about the potential of a U.S. war with Iraq.

An event as dire as war brings all sort of celebrities out of the political woodwork. For example, on Wednesday (February 26) a group of 42 musicians took out an ad in the New York Times, with their names listed under the headline "War On Iraq Is Wrong And We Know It." The organization, Musicians United To Win Without War, includes musical luminaries such as Jay-Z, Nas, Sheryl Crow, Wilco, Lou Reed, Dave Matthews, R.E.M., David Byrne, Russell Simmons, Steve Earle, Missy Elliott, Emmylou Harris and many, many more.

In the new issue of Chart, Maida asks readers to think about the circumstances surrounding the situation in Iraq and formulate their opinion about the conflict for themselves. Maida, who is a dedicated supporter of War Child Canada, has visited Iraq and has seen firsthand the conditions in which the Iraqi people live. He examines the gap between the information that floods Western news channels and the reality that he saw when he visited the country for himself.

"We don’t relate loss of life with war," Maida writes. "We don’t have a concept of a World War II or Vietnam and the hundreds of thousands of lives lost on both sides during those wars."

Most of all, Maida wants people to shake off their apathy, take a look at the world around them and if they don’t like what’s going on, speak up or do something about it.

"I’m as addicted to Halo or Grand Theft Auto as much as anyone, but there comes a time when we need to get off our collective asses and not put up with the crap we’re fed," he says. "We need to educate ourselves and spread the word."

To read Maida’s article, look for the new issue of Chart Magazine, which also features articles by Sum 41, Sloan’s Jay Ferguson, Swollen Members’ Prevail, Buck 65, The Dears’ Murray Lightburn and Theo from Gob, amongst others, in stores across Canada. For more info or to order online, click here.


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