Michael Bolton fails to bring peace to the Middle East

Posted By Blake Hounshell Monday, August 11, 2008 - 2:42 PM Share

VINCE BUCCI/AFP/Getty Images

Nobody ever could have predicted that easy listening would fail to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict:

A West Bank radio station that sought to bring Israelis and Palestinians together to the tune of pop music has gone of the air because of a lack of funding.
RAM-FM had been broadcasting English-language talk shows and artists like Michael Bolton and Air Supply from a studio in the town of Ramallah since last year.

I guess songs like "How Can We Be Lovers" and "Can I Touch You...There?" don't excite the same emotions in the Middle East as they do in... wherever it is one can find Michael Bolton fans these days.

UPDATE: Chris Blattman chimes in from Liberia:

As I read the post, none other than Michael himself was crooning over the speaker of the Cape Hotel in Monrovia.

He's also a favorite in northern Uganda, although Bolton is easily eclipsed by Dolly Parton and Bette Midler. "Wind beneath my wings" still conjures images of dusty displacement camp canteens in my mind.
I wouldn't go so far as to say that Michael Bolton caused the wars in northern Uganda and Liberia to end, but it is the power of love...

I'm only mildly insulted that Chris filed his post under the "drivel" category.

EXPLORE:MIDDLE EAST, ISRAEL/PALESTINE

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