Live Earth on turf

I feel about as happy as the dog above, after tangling with a porcupine.

With all the cities in North America, Al Gore and his team have elected to have the North American Live Earth concert in... Giants Stadium? I'm underfrickingwhelmed.

I couldn't believe it when I read the news today. Philly, New York, Washington, D.C. are just a few of the cities that would have made for an amazingly cool show. Instead, the concert is held in a giant ashtray. Yay.

If I owned a dog, I'd feel like someone just kicked it. I refuse to believe that this concert could not have been held at a more attractive venue. But, so be it - it's too late now to do anything about it .

I still support Live Earth and what the concert stands for, and more importantly, what it's promoting, but I really doubt I'm going to go. Maybe it will be on the Web or something.

The concert is on all seven continents, so I'm sure there will be some cool stuff on the Web surrounding the show.

To be blunt, the North American line-up blows anyway.

This is who London gets:
BEASTIE BOYS
BLACK EYED PEAS
BLOC PARTY
CORINNE BAILEY RAE
DAMIEN RICE
DAVID GRAY
DURAN DURAN
FOO FIGHTERS
GENESIS
JAMES BLUNT
JOHN LEGEND
KEANE
MADONNA
PAOLO NUTINI
RAZORLIGHT
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
SNOW PATROL

And this is the Jersey line-up:
AFI
AKON
ALICIA KEYS
BON JOVI
DAVE MATTHEWS BAND
FALL OUT BOY
JOHN MAYER
KANYE WEST
KELLY CLARKSON
KT TUNSTALL
LUDACRIS
MELISSA ETHERIDGE
RIHANNA
ROGER WATERS
SHERYL CROW
SMASHING PUMPKINS
THE POLICE

Okay, I partially take that back - the Jersey show doesn't completely blow, but the London line-up is much stronger. I'm happy DMB will be performing, but I can see the Dave Matthews Band any time. No one else really stands out for me when looking at this list.

Sigh. I might still go, but I'm just not all that excited about the acts or the location.

I strongly support Gore and applaud him for what he's doing - the global warming activist in me thinks this is a wonderful thing.

The concert lover in me is non-plussed; mostly by the venue.

Another quick word on the venue that I'd be remiss to not mention. Originally, Gore wanted to have the North American show in Washington, D.C. on the mall. I think it would have been a fabulous backdrop to bring attention to this important global issue.

Of course, global warming denier Jim Inhofe worked his black magic, successfully blocking the show, stating that "political causes" shouldn't be allowed to hold a concert on the mall. What an affront to democracy, free speech and political expression this man is. He's a national disgrace.

I wonder, if the concert would have been to support the War in Iraq, or advocating banning abortion or gay marriage, if Inhofe would have the same political view on the concert being held on the mall? Of course not.

He's the type of "legislator" who is bad for America. He's vehemently anti-abortion, anti-gay rights, and a global warming denier. He received the second most amount of funding from the oil and gas lobby that last time he ran for reelection.

Congratulations, Senator Inhofe. You've now succeeded Rick Santorum as the senator that most Democrats and liberals love to point to when talking about extremism in the Republican Party. Maybe the people in Oklahoma will wake up and throw this bum out of office next year.

If it were up to morons like Inhofe, we would not have had Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's march on Washington - it would have been "too political," right senator?

Live Earth concerts - hopefully Philly?

This one's been on my mind for the past few weeks, but I've had so little time and so much to blog about, and more urgent things came up that I wanted to blog about first.

On February 15, Al Gore (above, center), along with Cameron Diaz (left) and Live 8 Producer Kevin Wall (right), along with Pharrell Williams, Maná, Cameron Diaz, and the MSN Network, announced the creation of Save Our Selves (SOS), a movement designed to raise awareness of the global warming crisis. SOS will reach people all over the planet through through various media, highlighted by a 24-hour concert, Live Earth, on July 7, across all seven continents. The shows will feature more than 100 top musical acts. Live Earth's Website states that the concerts alone will reach an audience of more than 2 billion people between concert goers and broadcasts. 'Way cool.

This event is the best of both worlds for me, combining two of my biggest passions - global warming and summertime concerts.

I'm pretty jacked about the whole thing, but my first thought was "Where is the U.S. show?" Evidently, Gore and Wall will keep us waiting for a bit. So far, SOS has announced the following locations:

Shanghai, China; Sydney, Australia; Johannesburg, South Africa; London, England; Brazil - TBD; Japan - TBD; Antarctica - TBD; and the United States - TBD.

First, how cool is it that the show will be in Antarctica? You go, Gore. But of course, where I really have my eye is the U.S. show. I really, REEEEEALLLLY hope the show comes to Philly. Having a concert of this magnitude in the City of Brotherly Love is not without precedent - Live AID in 1985 (Right, at the demolished JFK Stadium), and most recently Live 8 in 2005 were both held here, to great fanfare and success. Third time's the charm - let's give the organizers lots of shouts to let them know we want the U.S. show here in Philly.

What's more, our local friends are all invited come to our place to see it! For those of you who have been to our condo, you know the great view we have, and we are about a 2-minute walk from the Art Museum. If they elected to have it on Ben Franklin Parkway, like Live 8 (below left), I would be excited beyond words.

Live 8, along with the Dave Matthews Band's 2003 Central Park concert in New York City, will always be the two concerts that I missed. (Okay, and also Woodstock '99, my generation's lame attempt to emulate the original Woodstock concert in 1969.)

Live 8 was a particular disappointment, since we live so close to the Art Museum. We were away to attend my friend Tim's wedding. Of all the weekends he had to pick to get married! Oh well, I can't blame him - he picked the date long before the concert was announced, but still, he owes me one for missing that show.

Anyway, we need to contact the organizers of Live Earth to tell them to bring the U.S. show to Philadelphia. E-mail the organizers here at: info@liveearth.org.

Here is a little more information about the shows...

There will be over 100 acts at all seven concerts, and so far, here are the announced performers (and the Website says that there with many more announced in the near future):

Pharrell
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Foo Fighters
Snoop Dogg
Lenny Kravitz
Bon Jovi
Paolo Nutini
Sheryl Crow
AFI
Melissa Etheridge
John Mayer
Damien Rice
Corinne Bailey Rae
Duran Duran
Snow Patrol
John Legend
Black Eyed Peas
Akon
Enrique Iglesias
Fall Out Boy
Maná
Keane
Kelly Clarkson
Korn
Faith Hill w/ Tim McGraw
Bloc Party

Anyway, let's do all we can to try to bring the Live Earth concert to Philadelphia. Don't forget to drop the organizers a quick line at info@liveearth.org, and let's keep our fingers crossed!