The man has a vision, at least...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 02:33:20 EST
From: Lefsetz@aol.com
To: undisclosed-recipients:  ;
Subject: A New Live Aid

It all comes down to Don Henley.
I DON'T want to hear you snicker.  Don't want you to talk about that hot tub
incident.  NOTHING.  Don's the only one who'll take a stand.  Put his money
where his mouth is.  The only one who can RALLY the rest of the musicians to
take ACTION!
And action must be taken.
Bush and his administration must know we don't approve of their warmongering
ways.
So what we're gonna do is have an all day event.  Modeled on the only music
festival to hold a candle to the granddaddy, Woodstock.
I'd say we should do it JUST like Live Aid.  We should have a gig in the U.S.
AND the U.K.  God, it seems about the only person willing to drop bombs
besides George the Younger is Tony Blair.
Maybe we'll get Bob Geldof involved on the U.K. end.  He knows how to do it.
Nobody's got a better rolodex.
Actually, I'm not that worried about the U.K. end.  For all their Top Forty
Wonders, they've got a strong history of political music.  There are
musicians ready to stand up.
But NOBODY wants to stand up in the U.S.  They just want to get fucked up and
drive their Hummers.  As if the rest of the world didn't matter.  As if the
rest of the world were their PAWN.
So that's why we need a leader.  An ALTERNATIVE leader.
Don Henley raised funds for political candidates in the seventies.  He saved
Walden Woods from development almost single-handedly.  He organized the
Recording Artists Coalition, which had three successful fundraisers last
Grammy time.  Hell, you might ask what has changed, but would INCUBUS be
fighting Sony Music if it weren't for Don and his troops?  HUH?  And Don
testified against Clear Channel in D.C. the other week.
He's the man.
Don brings the Eagles.
And all he's got to do is call Sheryl Crow.  She wore that antiwar t-shirt at
the American Music Awards.
I'm sure he can get John Fogerty too.  Fogerty BRINGS DOWN THE HOUSE!  And
with his anthems from the sixties, he's GOT to be against this war.
And that guy from System Of A Down.  He's the only young 'un who will stand
up.  Put him on the bill.  Have him bring HIS peeps.
All at the Rose Bowl.
Can't do it in Philadelphia.  It's too COLD!
An all day concert.  The best of the best.  Sure, old fogies like Bob Dylan,
but let's see who stands up from the younger generation.  This is time for
them to come out.  Time to take a stand.  And, it's EASIER when other people
are doing it.
And, if we can't have a U.K. counterpart, maybe we'll have other concerts in
the U.S.  One at Madison Square Garden.  Another one in Detroit.  Another one
in TEXAS.  Or FLORIDA!  Supposed Bush territory.
And the whole thing will be broadcast live, all day, on MTV and VH1.
And EVERY Infinity station will simulcast the show.
And CBS will do a two hour special a week later.
And an album will come out in a WEEK!  Yup, a WEEK!  Mixing in twenty four
hours, artwork done in advance, IMMEDIATE shipment.  Maybe with simultaneous
online sales.  No, online sales BEFORE!!
But what's the MESSAGE!
Not in our name.
Yup, we want to let the REST of the world know that we don't approve of
Bush's warmongering ways.
We might not prevent war IMMEDIATELY.  But it's a first step.  It's a
CAMPAIGN!  The war protests of the sixties took almost HALF A DECADE to gain
traction.
We need to do it.
Henley needs to call a few buddies.  Irving's got to work the phones.
There's got to be a press conference.  Live on MTV and VH1.
It's time to take a stand.
This is what music does BEST!
Video games can't protest.
Neither can TV.  And movies take too much time to make.
But a musician can write a song in fifteen minutes.  And sing it FOREVER!  He
can send a clear message that touches someone's HEART!
It's COMPLETELY fucked up that we needed George Bush to come back to our
roots, but here we are.  It's time to take up the flag.
And since no one is coming out of the woodwork to be the leader, I draft Don.
 He's smart enough to understand the issues.  Eloquent enough to delineate
them.  He can get the job done.
And boy does it need to be.

"O' beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening
They're beating plowshares into swords
For this tired old man that we elected king"

"The End Of The Innocence"

Bush might not be old, but the men forming this policy.  Cheney and Rumsfeld.
 THEY are.  They're out of touch.  Let's show them the rock and roll
generation has a backbone.  Let's show them that WE rule, not THEM!!