Musicians for a change? Think I'm gonna puke
As a reporter and writer, I am a big First Amendment proponent. Everyone has a voice and everyone has a right to voice it. I have a right to say what a bunch of hot air bags I think these people are, too. My morning headache just got worse as I was perusing the Yahoo news site and caught this lovely story: Bands Gather to Stump Against Bush. *rolling my eyes*
Here is a link to the story.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=musicNews&storyID=5863125
You know, I always look to Eddie Vedder and Bruce Springsteen for political advice. Gees people. Who really cares what these pot-smoking singers think? I mean, really? Are you going to decide who you want to vote for because Dave Matthews doesn't support Bush? Seriously? Not those of you with two brain cells firing. You'll make up your mind for yourself. And, I think that is great - whether you agree with me or not. I'm almost always open for a debate of the facts. But, what scares me are the impressionable young people who will go to these shows, toke it up and decide that whatever these singers say is gospel. These people have no better qualifications to spout their opinions than your neighbor down the street or your barber. So, why put them on some sort of pedestal like the media does?
What disappoints me more than anything are some of my favorite performers are on the bill: REM, James Taylor and the Dave Matthews Band. I don't know why it bothers me quite so much, but it does. I feel like these people are promoting ignorance. They say that they want the killing to stop in Iraq, but have they really looked at the good that has been done over there? I doubt it. They want to equate the war with profits for Bush or Cheney and that just irritates the snot out of me. Is Bush a bit of a crusader? Maybe he is, but is that such a bad thing? I would be willing to bet my one good foot that 98 percent of the military overseas is happy to be putting into practice all they've trained and drilled for. Do they want to die? No, they don't. But, would they rather just come home and leave the Iraqis to kill each other? Not the majority of them. But, I digress. Back to my point of asshole musicians moving into the political realm.
The editor in me just has to crack up at this from the website promoting this tour (I may have typos here and there, but I'm just me and not professing to be the fountain of all political knowledge): http://actforvictory.org/vote_for_change/index.php
"The Vote for Change Tour (October 1-10) includes Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band, Bonnie Raitt, Dave Matthews Band, Dixie Chicks, Jackson Brown, John Mellencamp, Ben Harper, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Pearl Jam, R.E.M, Ben Harper and others."
Ben Harper must really kick ass that they wanted to mention him twice. I've never heard of him. Anyway. Just my daily irritant. Maybe I can go wash my hands and feel better, but I doubt it.
Here is a link to the story.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=musicNews&storyID=5863125
You know, I always look to Eddie Vedder and Bruce Springsteen for political advice. Gees people. Who really cares what these pot-smoking singers think? I mean, really? Are you going to decide who you want to vote for because Dave Matthews doesn't support Bush? Seriously? Not those of you with two brain cells firing. You'll make up your mind for yourself. And, I think that is great - whether you agree with me or not. I'm almost always open for a debate of the facts. But, what scares me are the impressionable young people who will go to these shows, toke it up and decide that whatever these singers say is gospel. These people have no better qualifications to spout their opinions than your neighbor down the street or your barber. So, why put them on some sort of pedestal like the media does?
What disappoints me more than anything are some of my favorite performers are on the bill: REM, James Taylor and the Dave Matthews Band. I don't know why it bothers me quite so much, but it does. I feel like these people are promoting ignorance. They say that they want the killing to stop in Iraq, but have they really looked at the good that has been done over there? I doubt it. They want to equate the war with profits for Bush or Cheney and that just irritates the snot out of me. Is Bush a bit of a crusader? Maybe he is, but is that such a bad thing? I would be willing to bet my one good foot that 98 percent of the military overseas is happy to be putting into practice all they've trained and drilled for. Do they want to die? No, they don't. But, would they rather just come home and leave the Iraqis to kill each other? Not the majority of them. But, I digress. Back to my point of asshole musicians moving into the political realm.
The editor in me just has to crack up at this from the website promoting this tour (I may have typos here and there, but I'm just me and not professing to be the fountain of all political knowledge): http://actforvictory.org/vote_for_change/index.php
"The Vote for Change Tour (October 1-10) includes Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band, Bonnie Raitt, Dave Matthews Band, Dixie Chicks, Jackson Brown, John Mellencamp, Ben Harper, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Pearl Jam, R.E.M, Ben Harper and others."
Ben Harper must really kick ass that they wanted to mention him twice. I've never heard of him. Anyway. Just my daily irritant. Maybe I can go wash my hands and feel better, but I doubt it.
4 Comments:
At 3:04 PM, August 04, 2004,
Army of Mom said…
I agree that everyone is entitled to their opinions and thank God we live in a country where they can express them without fear of retribution from the government.
With that said, yes they are endorsing a political candidate. Look at who is supporting the concerts - quote from the Reuters story "Presented by liberal groups MoveOn.Org and America Coming Together, the series is set to begin Oct. 1 in Pennsylvania and will include about 40 shows in such presidential election "battleground" states as Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, Missouri and Florida."
The yahoo story actually includes some quotes from the artists about how they don't want Bush in office again. I couldn't get the yahoo story link in the blog or I would have preferred that story to be here. But, when the Dixie Chicks are on the agenda - do you REALLY think they just want to get out the vote or do you think they want to kick Bush out of DC? I'll let you muse that over Starbuck's.
But, I agree you with on good old Willie. Have your opinions, but don't ram them down my throat in a concert after I've spent $45+ to listen to you sing your greatest hits.
At 3:21 PM, August 04, 2004,
Army of Mom said…
Preach on sister! Preach on. Of course, this is the choir giving out the Amens, here. But, for what it is worth, it irritates the hell out of me for people to be so pissy about voting. You can absentee vote by mail, you can go to early voting, hell, the polls are open from 7 to 7 on election day. For MOST (not all) but most people, there is at least a small amount of time to get to the polls in there. And, if I remember correctly, employers MUST allow employees time to vote. They can dock their pay, but they have to let them go do it ... I get tired of excuses. I bitch about my stupid city council rep. But, I voted against her, so I feel I have that right.
At 12:43 AM, August 05, 2004,
Uzz said…
Well I might as well weigh in on this...anyone who knows me knows that I am a music fanatic of the HIGHEST order. I also enjoy the dulcet tones of Dave Matthews and R.E.M., though the latter has ceased to be relavent for many years now. If you want to play connect the dots on this you have to look no further than MoveOn.org...who is behind MoveOn.org...well, yes, it is George Soros, the Hungarian born multi-billionaire who has pledged to unseat Bush himself. He has found a way to give huge sums of money to his candidate without actually contributing that much to his campaign. He helped finance Moveon.org so that they and other anti-Bush media outlets can create negative ads that "technically" do not come out of the Kerry campaign war chest. I could care less what any of these artists have to say...I just prefer them to sing and play nice guitar solo or something. Like Army of Mom said, the problem is that kids that see this show will be force-fed their propaganda in much the same way Michael Moore force-fed his dogma down the throats of his sheep. I used to be about as hardcore left wing as it got, but once I stopped eating what MTV was trying to feed me and realized that the Democratic Party has become the party of the secularists and special interest groups, I started reading on my own and listening to other viewpoints. Do I vote the party line? No. I did not even vote for Rick Perry the last time around. Should you be worried about this concert series? That remains to be seen...when Kerry appears on MTV (and he will) we will get to see just how stiff and Crypt-keeper he is. Let's just hope he doesn't pick up a guitar and sing Kumbaya.
Uzz
PS...Army of Mom...Ben Harper is a pretty outstanding guitar player and songwriter...he has his own style of rock/slide guitar...a stunning artist...he is married to actress Laura Dern.
At 8:15 AM, August 05, 2004,
Anonymous said…
I would like the sceaming moonbats to come up with something other than "not Bush". I might actually listen to them if I thought they had a salient point.
I do think this concert is a masterstroke of genius for the Commie er... Dixie Chicks. They are in dire need of a new audience since they pissed in their own cornflakes.
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