I saw Pearl Jam last night...

I've been thinking about this a little deeper. I fully respect and encourage artists to express themselves personally, emotionally and politically through their artwork. Honestly, I expect it. For me, the problem arises when artists use the moments between the songs to proselytize. I buy tickets and CDs to be entertained first and foremost. If there's some truth to be told in the message, then that's a bonus. But, I don't buy tickets to sermons.

I saw PJ's second show in Camden last night. No ex-prisoners in sight and barely a bathroom break for the band during a long & great show. Up there with Radiohead & NIN as one of a handfull of extraordinary arena-scale performances I've seen in the last few years.

My Morning Jacket from Kentucky was also good-- to my ear a synthesis of Allman Bros. Band in its prime, with some perhaps too obvious debts to Mercury Rev.

My Pet Peeve: What is it with the dweeby frat-boy fans who need to get out their cell phones during the best moments of a rock concert and bring their friends on-line with the experience?

Dave

I'm amused to hear the hand-wringing explainations of how "brave" these entertainers are to "take a risk" on an issue. Freeing innocent prisoners is not a "leftist cause," but many (usually ignorant--in the true sense of the word) entertainers tend espouse liberal "causes." Anyway, nearly everyone in prison claims to be innocent. There's no country on Earth that an accused has more opportunities to prove their innocence that in the United States. Maybe Eddie Vedder should take his cause on the road to great places like Iran, Sudan, China, North Korea, Cuba, etc. where there are "innocents" in prison for only expressing an opinion about something! SHEESH!

Okay- The censors will pull this thread if it gets any hotter :)

BTW, PJ closed the Camden concert with a strong cover of The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again-- reappropriating this anthem for my generation from #1 standing with the American Idol fans at National Review.

Dave