posted November 14, 2009 07:31 PM         

1) since converting to islam he has hardly performed. NOW with islam the target of so much fear and hatred, he is hitting the road? is this foolhardy or purposeful i wonder? he was deported from the US on charges of contributing to the coffers of terrorist organizations a few years ago...!

2) he has been off the road even longer than me!! and he's no baby either. gives me a little thrill just to know this! mind you it is only 4 gigs...
http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=441679

Once he converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam, the former Cat Stevens more or less fell off the pop music radar for decades, releasing only the occasional religious recording or revamped take on work from his heyday in the '70s.

But with a new secular album -- Roadsinger (To Warm You Through the Night) -- under his belt, the folk-pop hero returns to the world stage Sunday, Nov. 15 when he kicks off his first tour in 33 years.

"Thirty-three years is a long time, and I suppose I never imagined that I'd be going back on tour again," Islam, 61, told Reuters in a recent interview.

"But things change and when I started to make music again and making records the yearning came to ... do it for real. When you're live it's that much more vibrant, and you're that much closer to the audience ... You can't beat that kind of music."

The modest four-date performance itinerary, dubbed the "I'll Take My Time Tour," kicks off Sunday in Dublin, Ireland before continuing on to shows in Birmingham, Liverpool and London.

The singer plans to mix up the set list, drawing on his classic hits, new songs as well as some unreleased material from a musical he's currently writing, Reuters reports.

"Everything has become a bit more digitalized," he told the news outlet. "It's a cut-and-paste job now, you can do it on a laptop.

"The real material stuff and the physical stuff has become so kind of virtual that it's not real, quite simply, and that's why the road thing -- getting on the road -- is so important because it's real."

Islam, who was born Steven Demetre Georgiou, made headlines in 2004 when he was deported from the U.S. after his name appeared on a no-fly list due to his alleged support of charities that funneled money to terrorism networks. He has since denied the allegations."

posted November 16, 2009 02:21 AM         

He's on my very short list of people I'd love to meet.