NAHPI

It's August 21; where has the summer gone? Back-to-school sales abound and Hallowe'en will be here before we know it.

As I was driving to church this morning, I was thinking about the Live 8 concerts and how that's all over and done with. Ending Poverty Now seems to have faded with all other noble philanthropy.

Which is why I chuckled when I came across North American Halloween Prevention Initiative (NAHPI) featuring the talents of indie darlings The Arcade Fire, commercially alternative Beck, nouveau-Maritime Sloan, engagingly quirky Feist, Can-metal-punkers Sum 41, and hilariously funny David Cross, among renowned others.

This noble effort to rid society of the Hallowe'en scourge, a harvest festival whose sole purpose is frightening children into sugar highs, is a pointed parody at the likes of "Do They Know it's Christmas?" and their patronizing, Western-centrism.

Enjoy the trick, it's a treat!