Michael Franti got his guitar, then headed to Iraq. Any requests for anti-war music?
No one can accuse Michael Franti of armchair activism.

When U.S. and British troops invaded Iraq three years ago, lots of musicians spoke out with songs, letters and freshly peeled bumper stickers. But the lead singer of the Bay Area soul-funk group Spearhead handled the situation in his own typical way. He turned off CNN, grabbed a guitar and started pricing tickets to Baghdad.

“I knew I wasn’t getting the whole truth on TV,” he says. “I wanted to see with my own eyes what was going on there.”