The exciting news is that I had a chance to attend a Live Earth show this past Saturday. The not-so-exciting news is that it was the Washington, D.C., show, featuring Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.
Frequent readers of this column may glean that I am not a country music fan. However, as with some other musical genres, I have nothing in particular against country. It’s just not my thing.
Conservationists and ConservativesHere’s my tongue-in-cheek theory of how Live Earth D.C. was a vast joint conspiracy between Republicans and Democrats.
The Republicans still have a lot of power in D.C. The last thing they want to see is Al Gore droning on about climate change — certainly not with a hip group of young musicians adding to his validity.
So, D.C. agrees to a Live Earth show — but with country acts only. I’m thinking the primary reason for this is because, in general, country music fans are so conservative that they would prefer the ocean to be a bath-like 100 degrees than live through a Gore presidency. And besides, nothing drowns out the bongo playing of war protesters outside the White House better than Garth’s live rendition of Friends in Low Places.
What’s the Carbon Footprint of Madonna’s Lear Jet?So, like attending any other “Live” or “Aid” concert, I could have witnessed history. With the Live Earth concert, though, I would have witnessed a historical level of hypocrisy. Global Warming is a serious issue we that need to address. But in my opinion, we don’t need to address it with seven massive concert venues, each with 24 hours of high wattage sound and lights and pampered artists flying to every continent in private jets.
I am certainly not the first to question the spirit behind Live Earth. Matt Helders, drummer for the Arctic Monkeys said, “It’s a bit patronizing for us 21 year olds to try to start to change the world. Especially when we're using enough power for 10 houses just for lighting.”
And that was for just one out of seven stages. I don’t often find myself agreeing with a bunch of Monkeys, but this guy makes more sense than Davey Jones ever did.
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The major hypocrisy of Live Earth is that the music and entertainment industries could be the greenest in the world. Digital technology has rendered a physical distribution system unnecessary. Manufacturing plants, shipping methods and environmentally unfriendly packaging materials should be a thing of the past.
However, the industry has not committed to an effective digital distribution system. The industry can sponsor a benefit concert series, just don’t ask it to jeopardize any profits by unlocking the code to its music.
Please don’t construe this commentary as a convenient injection of my politics. I like the climate just fine and am not in favor of much change. What I oppose is hypocrisy, self-righteousness and self-congratulatory performers who, in their minds, have seen the light. Only the light they see is the 10,000-watt spotlight focused on Kelly Clarkson.
