Writers don’t exist in a vacuum, but sometimes we are forced to do so. I struggle with this on a daily basis as stories and press releases and pleas from Africa stream across my desk. In this day and age there is a melding of blogging and journalism that can be quite confusing for those of us raised in the rules of “old school” journalism. The bottom line is that when reporting about the sheer inhumanity of it all, no matter how much one tries to meditate or pray, a deep scar is left on the psyche and compassion can be lost if one does not allow the passion to surface. There is so little independent analysis coming out of Congo that writers end up creating one woman/man news bureaus, with no colleague nearby to deflect the horror of it all through gallows humor or a drink after work. Camaraderie and comfort are nowhere to be found.
Rediscovering a love of music has been my stress reducer and consolation during these past few years. I want to write about the great poet/writers who have become friends if only to share my joy of these new discoveries and friends made along the way. Perhaps I am creating my own conflict by worrying that if I happen to “know” someone who is a wonderful writer and happens to be a musician that I am crossing some sacred line of journalism. Am I? Journalists quote other writers and analysts on a regular basis when examining in-depth stories.
Music touches the soul, so is it wrong to write about a friend or acquaintance who creates wonderful art—art that heals the heart and helps one to put one foot in front of the other while grabbing that cup of coffee and limping over to the laptop to see what is happening to the poor, the beleaguered and the dispossessed? Music can be like a morning prayer, and if the composer happens to be someone with whom you are acquainted or simply admire, should it be off limits to write about it? I am asking you the question while trying to walk that tightrope.
I may never be able to write a music review again, but it feels honest and ethical to explain how someone’s music can give you the courage to face the day. The true artist will impart that universal sense of understanding and speak directly to the observer. Mississippi native Caroline Herring is one of those unique artists who can help this writer get centered in the morning, wipe the tears away, and approach the job that needs to be done. Perhaps by writing about her artistry here, in this simple space, it will encourage those of you who visit this arena to learn about her art and her music and use it as a personal prayer.
Golden Apples of the Sun is Caroline Herring's fourth release and with this stunning compilation Caroline will certainly claim the mantel held by icons such as Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell and Buffy St. Marie. In their own way each of them was a freedom fighter for truth and justice in this sorry world—women who inspired me to make my own way.
Caroline’s "Tales of the Islander" is part homage to Mississippi Gulf Coast artist Walter Anderson and part celebration of the wondrous sense of place and nature that inhabits the Deep South. At once highly literate and completely accessible, Herring's original compositions as well as her takes on old favorites like "Long Black Veil" and "True Colors" prove once and for all that folk music is an art form. "The Dozens" is simply amazing and I will not do anything to "explain" it except quote this incredible line, which speaks volumes: "I'm just a white girl, from a segregated town, and I'm looking for some answers that I haven't found."
Herring does not manipulate with words, she simply asks the universal questions, tells the truth, and truth is in short supply these days. Before I had the opportunity to meet her and work through the serendipity of developing a friendship, I wrote several reviews of her work. The line we joke about is one in which I said she had ridden through the southland like Joan of Arc and firmly planted her flag in the red dirt of the Mississippi Delta. The review was about her album Lantana, and I can tell you that with Golden Apples of the Sun Caroline has cemented that flag so firmly into the red delta dirt that there will be nothing, not even a hurricane, which will dislodge it.
As a writer who leans heavily upon finding the correct words to describe the connections between soul, heart and place, I find Caroline to be an inspiration. But more than that, it is the way her music reaches deep into the soul, without effort and without artifice, that is so compelling. Only truth can provide protection and healing, and isn’t that what music is all about?
--
Showing posts with label Artists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Artists. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Mary Chapin Carpenter Goes to Bat for Art, Songwriting and Eudora Welty
By: Georgianne Nienaber
Five-time Grammy winner Mary Chapin Carpenter is still raving about the experience she had performing with Kate Campbell, Claire Holley and Caroline Herring at the Eudora Welty Centennial Concert in Jackson, Mississippi last week. Mary Chapin spoke to us from her farm--a sanctuary that she shares with her husband, six dogs, six cats, and a "menagerie" of other animals, all nestled securely up against the Blue Ridge mountains in south central Virginia.
Image: Mary Chapin Carpenter (Credit: Traci Goudie)
"It is pretty hard to leave home, but it was certainly worth it for the experience I had this last week in Jackson," she said.
To hear her tell it, the act of leaving her beloved home and animals is testimony to the regard in which she holds the literary giant Welty--who is not exactly a household word. Although critically acclaimed for their respective bodies of work, Mississippi daughters Herring, Campbell and Holley are not exactly household words either, but one might argue that they, along with Welty, should be. Mary Chapin Carpenter certainly thinks so. She was more than excited to meet the other performers. She was "anticipating" doing so.
Something beautifully compelling happened onstage at the Belhaven College Center for the Arts. Carpenter provided the star power for the benefit performance, but more than that, she quietly and graciously deferred to the other women, learning their material, requesting their songs, and harmonizing in lovely support of the Welty tribute.
This is the definition of grace. Campbell, Herring and Holley remarked in subsequent conversations that Carpenter went out of her way to make each of them feel comfortable. The admiration was returned onstage when Carpenter said that she had not known what exactly to expect but that she felt she had "made three new friends."
Image: (l-r) Claire Holley, Caroline Herring, Kate Campbell, Mary Chapin Carpenter, John Jennings
Had she lived to reach her one-hundredth birthday, Eudora Welty would have certainly enjoyed this gathering of new friends on a sweet-scented southern spring evening. There was a hint of ozone in the air, a harbinger of thunderstorms that would roll through Jackson later in the evening. Welty often wrote about the weather and its ability to set mood and tone. In one of her best loved books, One Writer's Beginnings, Welty described her father's "country boy's accurate knowledge of the weather and its skies." Her art was firmly rooted in family and her fascination with the grownup world of storytelling that was part and parcel of southern family living.
No shy and retiring southern belle, Welty said she tried a tornado first.
Some said they felt Welty's presence at Belhaven last week, and it is not out of the realm of possibility.
The 800-seat Belhaven Theater is a former Methodist Church, and there is something about a church that invites a visitation from the muse or a ghost. The stage was bathed in the glow of blue Fresnels that enhanced the sense of mystery and romance. Throw in the incredible artistry of four women who have the dirt, sweetness, and sweat of the south in their bones, along with songwriting abilities that summon aching memories of the pain, triumph and anguish of the South, and the profound becomes tangible--the impossible, possible.
Image: Audience at "Singing the Centennial"
In many ways, the Eudora Welty Centennial event was a perfect marriage of the arts of songwriting and Welty's literary storytelling.
Although Welty received the National Medal of Literature, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, and was the first living author to have her stories and essays compiled by the Library of America, these accolades did not define her existence. Welty looked to friendship and curiosity about the particulars of life. " In writing, as in life," she wrote, "the connections of all sorts of relationships and kinds lie in wait of discovery, and give out their signals to the Geiger counter of the charged imagination...."
Mary Chapin Carpenter is a northerner and New Jersey born, but became fascinated with southerner Eudora Wetly and the power of her imagination when she stumbled upon One Writer's Beginnings through a comment from a friend.
Before our conversation thread ended, I looked up the last line in One Writer's Beginnings and read it to Mary Chapin over the phone.
"As you have seen, I am a writer who came of a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within, Welty wrote."
When asked why she opened the "guitar pull" in the round with the iconic Stones in the Road, Mary Chapin had the somewhat surprising answer that the song is an old friend and that the Welty tribute was her return to performing after two years.
The Welty connection "of all sorts of relationships" was made.
The audience reacted as if it were greeting an old friend as Mary Chapin sang the opening lines of Halley Came to Jackson in a voice ringing strong and true with heart-felt emotion. The song and companion children's book, illustrated by Dan Andreasen, is based upon Welty's description of her father holding her in his arms as Halley's comet appeared over the skies of Jackson in 1910.
Another connection--a connection to the past--made through a combination of great songwriting and powerful vocal harmonies, just about brought down the house when Kate Campbell walked over to the grand piano to play Look Away. Mary Chapin said that she and Campbell locked eyes as the song began. It is one of Carpenter's favorites. Campbell is a respected presence on the folk music circuit as well as National Public Radio, and her work has been compared to that of Welty and William Faulkner. Campbell introduced the song from her album Rosaryville with a vivid personal memory.
Image: Kate Campbell
You could hear weeping in the audience as the four part harmony on Campbell's song took hold:
The moment was positively transcendent, and the audience became one family in the telling, all sons and daughters of the south.
Carpenter, Holley, Herring and Campbell bravely shouldered this heavy sentiment in their songwriting and storytelling about the southland--each using compassion as a moral compass--each using the inspiration of Eudora Welty as a guidepost.
Image: Caroline Herring
A beloved Canton native, Caroline Herring is quite simply a treasure waiting to be discovered by mainstream America. Ten years ago, Herring established a strong following in the Austin music scene. Herring, like Campbell, does not shy away from the responsibility to tell the story of the south and shine the light of truth into the darker corners of southern history.
With wit and grace that elicited laughter and warm applause from the audience, Herring also paid tribute to Welty.
Image: Claire Holley
Claire Holley is a Jackson native, but now resides in Los Angeles where her music is often featured in television. Holley and Campbell conducted a songwriting workshop the morning after the concert. Holley's advice? Read Welty's One Writer's Beginnings. "A lot of your best songs feel like gifts."
Music, friendship, and inspiration were front and center during the Welty Centennial Concert.
"The chemistry was really there," Kate Campbell said after the performance.
Carpenter agrees.
I asked her what she hoped to read in this article. She laughed.
We ended the interview talking about Mary Chapin's one and only meeting with Eudora Welty, some 20 years ago.
Welty passed in 2001 at 92, accomplished and beloved throughout the world.
Perhaps for Mary Chapin, her daring came in her ability to triumphantly take the stage again after a very serious health threat. Eudora Welty found strength, solace and comfort in the company of friends, and so did Mary Chapin Carpenter.
Four strong, talented women gathered in tribute to a woman who was a powerhouse of literary ability. In the gathering, they found friendship and reaffirmed their own abilities to use inspiration as the wellspring of creativity, courage, and terrific songwriting.
Magic.
....................
Mary Chapin Carpenter's 2007 CD, The Calling, was nominated for a Grammy for the Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album. Her latest recording, released in 2008, is Come Darkness, Come Light: Twelve Songs of Christmas. Mary Chapin Carpenter serves on the Eudora Welty Foundation board. She is the only artist to have won four consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. (1992-1995) She is currently working on writing and recording anew album and will be touring in support of it next year. Mary Chapin has recorded 11 albums, sold more than 13 million records, and scored 12 top 10 singles.
The Eudora Welty Foundation aids in the cataloging of her manuscripts, correspondence, and photographs. The National Foundation for the Arts announced that the foundation has been awarded a $10,000 NEA grant that will support creative writing in 500 high schools.
Five-time Grammy winner Mary Chapin Carpenter is still raving about the experience she had performing with Kate Campbell, Claire Holley and Caroline Herring at the Eudora Welty Centennial Concert in Jackson, Mississippi last week. Mary Chapin spoke to us from her farm--a sanctuary that she shares with her husband, six dogs, six cats, and a "menagerie" of other animals, all nestled securely up against the Blue Ridge mountains in south central Virginia.
Image: Mary Chapin Carpenter (Credit: Traci Goudie)
"It is pretty hard to leave home, but it was certainly worth it for the experience I had this last week in Jackson," she said.
To hear her tell it, the act of leaving her beloved home and animals is testimony to the regard in which she holds the literary giant Welty--who is not exactly a household word. Although critically acclaimed for their respective bodies of work, Mississippi daughters Herring, Campbell and Holley are not exactly household words either, but one might argue that they, along with Welty, should be. Mary Chapin Carpenter certainly thinks so. She was more than excited to meet the other performers. She was "anticipating" doing so.
They are all so amazing. I have loved their music before I met them, I have felt a kinship with their music, and I have known Kate's music for years. To finally meet after so long, well it was just wonderful. I was trying to tell a friend of mine about how extraordinary it was to be there with them. Every single one of them. Claire has such an angelic and interesting way of writing, and Kate's writing is so masterful, and Caroline's is so literary. It was like my cup positively overflowed. Their material was extraordinary.
Something beautifully compelling happened onstage at the Belhaven College Center for the Arts. Carpenter provided the star power for the benefit performance, but more than that, she quietly and graciously deferred to the other women, learning their material, requesting their songs, and harmonizing in lovely support of the Welty tribute.
This is the definition of grace. Campbell, Herring and Holley remarked in subsequent conversations that Carpenter went out of her way to make each of them feel comfortable. The admiration was returned onstage when Carpenter said that she had not known what exactly to expect but that she felt she had "made three new friends."
Image: (l-r) Claire Holley, Caroline Herring, Kate Campbell, Mary Chapin Carpenter, John Jennings
Had she lived to reach her one-hundredth birthday, Eudora Welty would have certainly enjoyed this gathering of new friends on a sweet-scented southern spring evening. There was a hint of ozone in the air, a harbinger of thunderstorms that would roll through Jackson later in the evening. Welty often wrote about the weather and its ability to set mood and tone. In one of her best loved books, One Writer's Beginnings, Welty described her father's "country boy's accurate knowledge of the weather and its skies." Her art was firmly rooted in family and her fascination with the grownup world of storytelling that was part and parcel of southern family living.
So I developed a strong meteorological sensibility. In years ahead when I wrote stories, atmosphere took its influential role from the start. Commotion in the weather and the inner feelings aroused by such a hovering disturbance emerged connected in dramatic form.
No shy and retiring southern belle, Welty said she tried a tornado first.
Some said they felt Welty's presence at Belhaven last week, and it is not out of the realm of possibility.
The 800-seat Belhaven Theater is a former Methodist Church, and there is something about a church that invites a visitation from the muse or a ghost. The stage was bathed in the glow of blue Fresnels that enhanced the sense of mystery and romance. Throw in the incredible artistry of four women who have the dirt, sweetness, and sweat of the south in their bones, along with songwriting abilities that summon aching memories of the pain, triumph and anguish of the South, and the profound becomes tangible--the impossible, possible.
Image: Audience at "Singing the Centennial"
In many ways, the Eudora Welty Centennial event was a perfect marriage of the arts of songwriting and Welty's literary storytelling.
Although Welty received the National Medal of Literature, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, and was the first living author to have her stories and essays compiled by the Library of America, these accolades did not define her existence. Welty looked to friendship and curiosity about the particulars of life. " In writing, as in life," she wrote, "the connections of all sorts of relationships and kinds lie in wait of discovery, and give out their signals to the Geiger counter of the charged imagination...."
Mary Chapin Carpenter is a northerner and New Jersey born, but became fascinated with southerner Eudora Wetly and the power of her imagination when she stumbled upon One Writer's Beginnings through a comment from a friend.
The book is a bible, a talisman of sorts. It has meant so much to me. I was living in a scummy little apartment trying to be scrappy and eke out a living, when a very dear friend of mine quoted the very last line of the book. Our conversation was about struggle, and after I heard the quote I ran out and got it. I basically devoured it and found myself returning to it over and over again through the years. To this day I recommend it to any person I meet who is trying to establish a creative life within the requirements of making a living. It reaffirms what I am trying to accomplish for myself. Sometimes you are not sure of what you are trying to do; you are just trying to be happy.
Before our conversation thread ended, I looked up the last line in One Writer's Beginnings and read it to Mary Chapin over the phone.
"As you have seen, I am a writer who came of a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within, Welty wrote."
When asked why she opened the "guitar pull" in the round with the iconic Stones in the Road, Mary Chapin had the somewhat surprising answer that the song is an old friend and that the Welty tribute was her return to performing after two years.
This was my first show in two years and I had taken extensive time off because I had a pulmonary embolism. We were all talking about how nervous we were and it was especially true for me because this was my return to performing. 'Stones' is about a lot of things, about struggle, certainly, and it is my calling card as well.
The experience of having the embolism was terrifying. I had been having a lot of pain in my chest and luckily I got to the emergency room in time. It has taken me a long time to get back to my job. That is another thing that made it so meaningful to me--the fact that I was with such kind and considerate and lovely people in Jackson.
The Welty connection "of all sorts of relationships" was made.
The audience reacted as if it were greeting an old friend as Mary Chapin sang the opening lines of Halley Came to Jackson in a voice ringing strong and true with heart-felt emotion. The song and companion children's book, illustrated by Dan Andreasen, is based upon Welty's description of her father holding her in his arms as Halley's comet appeared over the skies of Jackson in 1910.
Another connection--a connection to the past--made through a combination of great songwriting and powerful vocal harmonies, just about brought down the house when Kate Campbell walked over to the grand piano to play Look Away. Mary Chapin said that she and Campbell locked eyes as the song began. It is one of Carpenter's favorites. Campbell is a respected presence on the folk music circuit as well as National Public Radio, and her work has been compared to that of Welty and William Faulkner. Campbell introduced the song from her album Rosaryville with a vivid personal memory.
Image: Kate Campbell
I remember seeing Eudora on public television one night and there was a photograph of the mansion in Windsor, Mississippi behind her. I remember her talking about the New South and the Old South and along the way she said, 'You know, not everything was bad and it doesn't really matter where you are from, there is good and there is bad.' She was talking about the Old South and she said 'it really wasn't all about hate.' I, too, cannot believe that the history of the south is all about hate.
You could hear weeping in the audience as the four part harmony on Campbell's song took hold:
It's along and slow surrender retreating from the past. It's important to remember to fly the flag half-mast, and look away. I was taught by elders wiser, love your neighbor, love your god. Never saw a cross on fire, never saw an angry mob. I saw sweet magnolia blossoms. I chased lightning bugs at night. Never dreaming others saw our way of life in black and white. Part of me hears voices crying, part of me can feel their weight. Part of me believes that mansion stood for something more than hate.
The moment was positively transcendent, and the audience became one family in the telling, all sons and daughters of the south.
Carpenter, Holley, Herring and Campbell bravely shouldered this heavy sentiment in their songwriting and storytelling about the southland--each using compassion as a moral compass--each using the inspiration of Eudora Welty as a guidepost.
Image: Caroline Herring
A beloved Canton native, Caroline Herring is quite simply a treasure waiting to be discovered by mainstream America. Ten years ago, Herring established a strong following in the Austin music scene. Herring, like Campbell, does not shy away from the responsibility to tell the story of the south and shine the light of truth into the darker corners of southern history.
With wit and grace that elicited laughter and warm applause from the audience, Herring also paid tribute to Welty.
I do feel that Eudora Welty, like God, is looking down on me and saying, 'Why have you not read everything that I have written?' One thing I am struck with is the fact that she gives her characters such dignity through her honest portrayals of southern life in the twentieth century. Well, we are blessed to have had her in our midst.
Image: Claire Holley
Claire Holley is a Jackson native, but now resides in Los Angeles where her music is often featured in television. Holley and Campbell conducted a songwriting workshop the morning after the concert. Holley's advice? Read Welty's One Writer's Beginnings. "A lot of your best songs feel like gifts."
Music, friendship, and inspiration were front and center during the Welty Centennial Concert.
"The chemistry was really there," Kate Campbell said after the performance.
The audience was with us and everyone was there to honor Eudora. This was one of the best ways to give tribute to Eudora-- to have women singer/songwriters share their music and inspiration. Through music and storytelling, we can have a conversation, a dialogue. As performers it inspired us to be up there with three other women who shared the same passion.
Carpenter agrees.
I asked her what she hoped to read in this article. She laughed.
No journalist has ever asked me that question. When I got home from the weekend and we were all home again and when I parted from my manager and guitar technician and guitarist we remarked that it would be so hard to explain unless you had been there. It was an amazing experience. Describe how MAGICAL it was. I am so happy a (Huffington Post) writer has taken the time and interest in this.
We ended the interview talking about Mary Chapin's one and only meeting with Eudora Welty, some 20 years ago.
I had tea with Eudora 20 years ago in her home. I was so nervous I could hardly talk. The way the house is now, it is like she just stepped out for a while. Books on couches; books everywhere. Her reading glasses on the table. I remember she gave me a book about Cajun music. I found that really interesting and surprising. It was one of the most memorable events of my life. She was just so gracious and kind.
Welty passed in 2001 at 92, accomplished and beloved throughout the world.
Perhaps for Mary Chapin, her daring came in her ability to triumphantly take the stage again after a very serious health threat. Eudora Welty found strength, solace and comfort in the company of friends, and so did Mary Chapin Carpenter.
Four strong, talented women gathered in tribute to a woman who was a powerhouse of literary ability. In the gathering, they found friendship and reaffirmed their own abilities to use inspiration as the wellspring of creativity, courage, and terrific songwriting.
Magic.
....................
Mary Chapin Carpenter's 2007 CD, The Calling, was nominated for a Grammy for the Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album. Her latest recording, released in 2008, is Come Darkness, Come Light: Twelve Songs of Christmas. Mary Chapin Carpenter serves on the Eudora Welty Foundation board. She is the only artist to have won four consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. (1992-1995) She is currently working on writing and recording anew album and will be touring in support of it next year. Mary Chapin has recorded 11 albums, sold more than 13 million records, and scored 12 top 10 singles.
The Eudora Welty Foundation aids in the cataloging of her manuscripts, correspondence, and photographs. The National Foundation for the Arts announced that the foundation has been awarded a $10,000 NEA grant that will support creative writing in 500 high schools.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Wanted: Artists
H/T to Mac for this recent “talking about artists” thread….Tracy Chapman is one of my all time favorites….Our public airwaves should be sending us visionary voices to inspire us with hopeful energy....not the fearful, destructive hopelessness they are pushing down our throats hoping a large enough minority will remain willing to exchange freedom and choice so some rich white "Decider Daddy" can continue the current campaign of destruction and plunder. Colonized minds given limited parameters don't question (and therefore don't resist atrocities.)
I hope that Tracy Chapman will have some new songs for us soon. It will be “interesting” to see what she’ll have to say, “in these times….” But you will have to actively search for the visionary voices because the corporate media is promoting a different agenda. The corporate powers prefer to spread messages of fear, insecurity, and lies…..so it will be up to “US” to support the works of our artists….BTW, if you’ve never seen Tracy Chapman in concert try to make her next appearance here. The woman is FABULOUS!!!
I hope the organizers of the next big march in
Here’s another Chapman "oldie" but goodie:
Friday, December 28, 2007
The MYTH of the Liberal Media
IF you believe the corporate controlled media (and government) in this country is "liberal" then you need to reassess this belief. Check out this Pink interview.
WHY won't U.S. media (radio and tv) play her song, Dear Mr. President? If some "so called" patriotic white boy country singer writes a song saying the USA is wonderful for invading Iraq and killing a million people he gets to sing his "lousy" song everywhere...tv and radio....and the songs of artists are hidden from us.
Jimmy Kimmel has earned my respect for inviting Pink to be on his show, sing this powerful song, andthen interviewing her to expose how the corporate media has shut her greatest song and her message out of the public arena. So much for freedom and the public airways that are supposed to be "owned" by us. The FCC white boys are paid by the US taxpayer but they work for the corporate media.
In crucial times such as this we need more artists and fewer "entertainers." I don't want to be "entertained." In these times, Americans need to recognize the atrocities and war crimes that George Bush is using our tax dollars to pay for.....
Thanks Mac for bringing back one of my fave tunes. Thanks Star for sharing this with me...I did not know that the Indigo Girls played and sang with Pink on the recording of Dear Mr. President.
And just b/c the corporate media won't play this stuff it's up to "US" the people to support the artists (start ignoring the entertainers) and promote them every chance we get.
BTW, does anyone remember how Clear Channel corporate executives had to testify before Congressional hearings for blacklisting the Dixie Chicks? The Clear Channel executives apologized and then promised they wouldn't do this again....Well, Bruce Springsteens latest album is not getting any airplay on Clear Channel in spite of high volume sales.
So much for the Myth of the Liberal Media....BTW, why don't you take a moment and "think" about who promotes that Liberal Media myth so much....that's right....this "myth" was manufactured by the corporate media....
Buzz...Buzz...
WHY won't U.S. media (radio and tv) play her song, Dear Mr. President? If some "so called" patriotic white boy country singer writes a song saying the USA is wonderful for invading Iraq and killing a million people he gets to sing his "lousy" song everywhere...tv and radio....and the songs of artists are hidden from us.
Jimmy Kimmel has earned my respect for inviting Pink to be on his show, sing this powerful song, andthen interviewing her to expose how the corporate media has shut her greatest song and her message out of the public arena. So much for freedom and the public airways that are supposed to be "owned" by us. The FCC white boys are paid by the US taxpayer but they work for the corporate media.
In crucial times such as this we need more artists and fewer "entertainers." I don't want to be "entertained." In these times, Americans need to recognize the atrocities and war crimes that George Bush is using our tax dollars to pay for.....
Thanks Mac for bringing back one of my fave tunes. Thanks Star for sharing this with me...I did not know that the Indigo Girls played and sang with Pink on the recording of Dear Mr. President.
And just b/c the corporate media won't play this stuff it's up to "US" the people to support the artists (start ignoring the entertainers) and promote them every chance we get.
BTW, does anyone remember how Clear Channel corporate executives had to testify before Congressional hearings for blacklisting the Dixie Chicks? The Clear Channel executives apologized and then promised they wouldn't do this again....Well, Bruce Springsteens latest album is not getting any airplay on Clear Channel in spite of high volume sales.
So much for the Myth of the Liberal Media....BTW, why don't you take a moment and "think" about who promotes that Liberal Media myth so much....that's right....this "myth" was manufactured by the corporate media....
Buzz...Buzz...
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