Acrassicauda: Iraqi Heavy Metal Band Lands In USA, Ahmadinejad Waits
ALL hail Acrassicauda, stars of “Heavy Metal in Baghdad.” The head bangers have landed in the United States. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad looks on.
Acrassicauda members have been granted refugee status and now reside in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The New York Times explains:
Acrassicauda’s primary advocate has been Vice, the Brooklyn-based magazine and media company that made “Heavy Metal in Baghdad.” Vice is better known for wisecracking pop-culture commentary than humanitarian aid, but it has been working tirelessly on the band’s behalf for a year and a half.
Vice tried to help resettle the members to Canada and Germany, and kept them afloat with cash – as much as $40,000 paid from Vice’s own coffers, sponsors and donations collected online, according to Suroosh Alvi, a founder of the company and one of the directors of the film.
Those who are about to live in Amerika – we salute ytou:
And on Sunday night, two days after the last of the band’s four members was resettled in the United States, they enjoyed what any metal fan would have to call heaven: bearhugs and “Wow, dude” heart-to-hearts backstage with Metallica at the Prudential Center in Newark. It probably wasn’t necessary for James Hetfield, Metallica’s lead singer, to surprise them after the show by handing over one of his guitars, a black ESP, and signing it “Welcome to America”; their minds were already blown.
You survive Saddam Hussein and the War on Terror and you get to meet…Metallica.
If only Obama would make it so that Ahmadinhjad could meet Cliff Richard, he would end the war of words with Iran. Poor Mahmoud – he’s thw only world leader who hasn’t been called up by Bono. He waits – and grows bitter…
Video:
Spotter: Michael C. Moynihan
Posted: 7th, February 2009 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
