Rock the Casbah By Jim Higo (2/2)

(1/2), (2/2).

Track Two - A cover of the Stones favourite Harem Shuffle Wafah says that because of her name the western world hates her, and because she's chosen American values (oxymoron) everyone else hates her. She describes her singing as a cross between Chrissie Hynde and Toni Braxton and because of this surely the whole world will hate her. She believes she is being vilified for a name over which she had no choice; a sentiment echoed by Billy Hitler and Chuck Stalin. Track Three - The Boney M classic Ma Birka

So what chance has she got of being accepted by a country that is hardly known for its forgiveness. Well despite her history of being a spoilt rich party girl she has decided to try and get the sympathy of the American public. She wants them to accept her not as a bimbo but as an ordinary American, living the American dream and who spent thanksgiving feeding the homeless in a soup kitchen (how the homeless managed for the rest of the year, I don't know).

Track Four - Paul Simon song You can call me Al Qaeda Wafah is desperate to be seen as an American citizen and says she has no links with or feelings for her Saudi roots or her family connections. She just wants to be accepted as a musician and is often seen riding the subway, Elton John sheet music under her arm, looking to be discovered. Apparently Elton is big on the underground and even bigger in the public toilets.

However despite all her protestations, the American public and the music industry have failed to be convinced by her claims of westernization. Undeterred Wafah continues to maintain that she has severed all ties with her Arabic past and bombards record executives and radio stations with her carefully constructed demo tape. She is so glad she says that she managed to get great backing on the demo in the shape of Pete Wylie's old band The Mighty Fatwah

Wafah remains determined to break into the music business and wants eventually to move into films. She has already said that she would love to appear in a remake of her all time favourite film The man in the iron mosque. But for the time being Wafah Bin Ladin, for all her efforts, remains unloved and unaccepted by the American public.

But as she tries to come to terms with her failed bid for pop stardom, with her tenuous links to terrorism and with a name that is loathed by vast sections of the western world, she should take a second to console herself with the reassuring thought that it could be worse; at least she isn't Michelle McManus.

Articles - Pain is a Simple Word By Mr Pain in the Butt
	Like many words Pain has just four letters. It is short and easily just rolls off of the lips. Pain; Used to describe things ranging from a stubbed toe to a woman giving birth to her first born child - Pain! What a simple everyday word! To me Pain is all Read more...

Articles - Norman At Ninety By DJ Chris Plant
	As Sir Norman Wisdom approaches 90 years old. I pay tribute to the fine actor as I watch his films. My favourite Norman Wisdom film has to be On the Beat (1962). In On The Beat, Norman wants to be a policeman like his father was, Read more...

Articles - Endless Guitar Solos and the Real Reasons for Opposing Fox Hunting. By Mark Pollard

	I love progressive rock. Always have done. There; I've said it. You can stick your three-and-a-half minute blasts of pop music where the sun don't shine. If it sounds great, let it drag on for half an hour is what I say. Why play one note when Read more...

Articles - The Night Time Visitor By Graham Lee

	During the first few weeks of my professional work in mediumship I was not one hundred percent convinced that I was actually contacting spirit. I had come to mediumship with a large dose of scepticism which often meant I would be the first to offer Read more...

Articles - Haunted Hull? By Ellen

	My name is Ellen. I was born and raised in Hull. I was just reading the article about haunted hotels and I thought I'd write about some of my husband's and my experiences. My husband, Graham Lee is a psychic medium working in Hull and Yorkshire Read more...

Articles - ADWARE: A Malicious and Highly Invasive Plague By Blair Ashworth

	There is a disturbing rise in the appearance of virus-like programs that hijack your web browser - changing your default start page and forcing you to visit certain web sites, thus inflating a site's traffic count in an attempt to increase advertising revenues. Read more...

Articles - Words to Uncle Sam By Patrick Henry

	An Englishman in America can meet very mixed kinds of reception. Cultural differences he presents might arouse fascination or reverence from the natives, but acceptance that he holds superiority in Anglo-Saxon language and civilised values can be Read more...

Articles - I Would Have Hated London By Anna Zenonos

	I have something to share about Hull or Ull! My experience was generally good although a bit sad. I come from Greece and in 2001 I arrived in Hull to start studies at Lincoln University which at the time was called The University of Lincolnshire and Humberside. Read more...

Articles - Out an About in Hull By Aaron

	When you are out and about in the centre of Hull, take time out to look up at the buildings. There is some lovely architecture about, not to mention the numerous statues for example above and behind all those modern shop fronts there are some very Read more...

Articles - Some Call it Godcore (Keeping God on Message) By Jim Higo

	Breakfast with Frost is compulsive viewing in our house on a Sunday morning, although for all the wrong reasons. It started a couple of years ago when Frosty began to look decidedly frail and weak and was absent from his sofa Read more...

Articles - The Golden Age of Education By Mark Pollard

	Anyone who regularly reads the letters pages of The Hull Daily Mail is probably aware of a serial contributor by the name of Lionel F. Cerny. I think he's probably a retired teacher, because one of his major, recurring letter-writing themes is Read more...

Articles - Winter in Canada

	Let me tell you something about Montreal in the winter: It's cold, it is very, very cold indeed. Cold and I do not get along, I have tried to see things his way but it's just not happening. I have to laugh when I call my family and hear of the Read more...

Articles - Stop Me and Buy One By Joe Hakim

	So I'm heading home after a night out. It's cold and raining, but I decide to walk anyway. I need the time alone. I'm walking past Yello and I notice a fight happening on the opposite corner of the street outside what used to be Buzz Bar. Two young lads, completely pissed out of their Read more...

Articles - A Wandering Minstrel...Aye! By Trevor Edge

	'Ull. The place I was born. The place I have lived 90% of my life. The place I had my first kiss, my first drunken fumblings, my first...well that's another article. I love 'Ull. I love the way it has been portrayed as: a dead end, the a**e of England, the worst city in the UK, the most Read more...

Articles - Unfinished Theories Part 2 By Andrea Longstaff

	Hasn't anyone noticed how the beautiful word banana has been hijacked? Not only has it been hijacked but it has also been cleverly changed by the little known boffins at the surreptitiously titled banana brigade. Was no one looking as this other word was cunningly planted into our lovely language? Read more...

Articles - Writing Life By Darren Sant

	It's strange and sometimes lonely being a writer. Friends look at you with bewilderment. Your partner smiles at you encouragingly but doesn't quite understand how the one she loves can at times appear to be a complete lunatic. This is how it is when you are a writer. Inspiration is like an exotic disease it can strike you down without warning Read more...