A nine hour road trip up the East Coast's spinal column
dead-ended at Lake Ontario. We close Saturday night - main stage -
at the Oswego Harborfest.

On route, Fala reminisced about life in his hometown, Monrovia.

His band, the Musical Messiahs, played the
big ticket gigs in Liberia; Providence Island, and the Executive Mansion.

For a decade the band members flourished, courting the favor of
the bureaucrats and military who ran the country
with a strong arm. Twelve years ago, long festering
tribal animosities exploded into a full scale civil war.
An insatiable beast slithered from the jungle and struck at
the power elite. Politicians, judges, and military personnel were
its first victims.
A feeding frenzy ensued, and the beast fixed
its gaze on more vulnerable targets including popular artists and
musicians.
Following a tip from a member of government,

Fala fled his homeland.
The following day his house was ransacked and burned, and his children
forced into exile. Soon thereafter, one player for the Musical Messiah's
had his arm severed from the shoulder by a machete wielding guerrilla.
Another was machine-gunned when he refused to dance for a rebel cadre.

Tonight we'll sing and dance for a sea of smiling faces. Perhaps
in those short hours of musical celebration Fala can put aside the
memories of his lost homeland.