Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Shut up and sing

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Virginia Buckingham goes to a Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young show at the Tweeter Center and is shocked, just shocked, that they would include an anti-war message!

CSNY made their names and fortunes as anti-war crooners… But they shouldn’t have the freedom to lure lovers of their music into a venue on a warm summer night expecting “Guinevere” and getting a playlist with accompanying video that could easily have borne the label “We hate America.”

One dope-slap for the columnist, please. Has there been any prominent artist who has worn his politics on his sleeve more than Neil Young in the last, oh, 35 years? “Alabama”? “Ohio?” “Impeach the President”? And she just expected him to do the pretty songs that she liked — presumably without words, and certainly without the multi-media presentation. Has she been living under a rock?

Virginia — take it from a singer: It’s hard to sing without opening your mouth.

UPDATE: Hey Virginia — do check out Neil’s website. You were expecting polite and a-political??

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Comments

  1. There was a protest song at a Crosby Stills Nash and Young concert? A song disagreeing with U.S. foreign and military policies?

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    Hmmm. And to think.  I almost cut my hair. But instead i’m gonna let my freak flag fly.

  2. I had this exact conversation with a girl I met last weekend who was a staffer for Pataki.  She was dismayed at Bruce Springstein’s anti-war message.  I blogged about it on my personal blog (insert shameless pimp here), and wrote the following:

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    “I was at a barbeque yesterday when a nice young woman started complaining about a Bruce Springstein concert she’d been to, and about how it was such a turn off to hear Bruce go on and on about the war in Iraq. Just sing, already! It’s so damned inconvenient to listen to your excessive moralizing and blatant self-promotion!

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    Huh? Really? We live a in land of the 500-station digital cable service that will bring us no fewer than three 24 hour a day television networks devoted solely to the pursuit and study of the celebrity and his or her lifestyle. A world where Paris Hilton is a super-star for no particular reason at all. A world where we wonder if Jennifer could possibly be okay after having been dumped by Brad. And who will Nick date? Is Jessica really sleeping around?

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    But God forbid someone should use 10 seconds of your time to make you think about something unpleasant. Whoa! Hold the phone! Did that man just say something of consequence? That’s simply not allowed! I’m here to be entertained fella! If I wanted to think, I’d go read “Maxim”!

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    We go to concerts, presumably, because we like the way a particular artist’s music makes us feel. That artist has an emotion, puts that emotion into words, puts the words into song, puts the song onto a CD, and then promotes the CD with a concert that you show up to. So, why get bent out of shape when that same artist, whose songs you love, bypasses the “music to CD” steps in the process, and just pouts an emotion into words right there on stage? Is it really so bad?

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    I could go on but, oooooohh, wait…Is that Britney’s new interview with Barbara Walters?””

  3. is reporter Dave Wedge’s (first ever?) foray into opinion:

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    What has always made America great has been our freedom to opine and disagree, no matter how unpopular or outrageous the views….

    When Young embarked on his harshest political slam yet, the unambiguously titled “Let’s Impeach the President,” at Mansfield’s Tweeter Center, there were some boos and middle fingers raised. But for most, hearing the song was a moving return to pre-9/11 days when it was acceptable to question and criticize the president – anyone remember Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter?…

    Implying that criticism of the war or Bush’s policies is somehow unsupportive of the troops is a smokescreen. It’s a diversion from reality – a demand for dissenters to get back in line and stick with the program. Either that or risk being painted as an Axis of Evil sympathizer.

    Neil Young, though, has once again boldly chosen to step out of line and ignore “the program.” Whether you’re with him or against him, what’s undeniable is his ability to offer pointed political criticism in a way that’s passionate and honest.

    And what’s un-American about that?

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    Go Dave!  Contrast that with Ginny Buckingham’s fairly shocking take on the same subject:

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    But are you a fan of the United States? Do you understand that by saying – or singing – the president lied about Iraq, you are echoing the very excuse terrorists use to kill: that Bush invaded Iraq as part of a long-held American desire to wipe out Islam and impose Western values on the Arab world?

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    Christ, Ginny, settle down.  Terrorists don’t need an “excuse” to kill – it’s what they do.  Does anyone seriously believe that if all Americans rallied behind Bush, despite his, um, inaccurate statements, the terrorists would go home?

    • And junior smoking weed helps terrosists too.
      (Remember. She’s writing for the Herald. Her audience is a step below the Beverly Hillbillies)

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        “Canadians are always dreaming up a lotta ways to ruin our lives. The metric system, for the love of God! Celsius! Neil Young!”

        • The very same types of Republicans who scream about how great freedoms are and then attack people who use those freedoms. The same people who think that only veterans of wars fought for freedom then shout down civil rights, gay activists, and anti war protestors. The same Ginny who says Neil hates America is the same women who equates Bush with America and idolizes a leader as the symbol of the state. I can be an American and dislike the President, in fact 49% of us didnt vote for him last time around, I guess half of the nation hates America. Frankly im surprised at how many idiots truly dont value their freedoms and believe that blind obedience IS freedom. And thats scarier than any mere concert.

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          Also she attacks the Jimmy Hendirx version of the national anthem which IMO is the best version ever recorded.

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