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2006-09-28 23:31:36 UTC
If you have a message to convey, your first task is to clear away any, if
not all, of the obstacles that might impede or otherwise hinder the delivery
of that message. The first obstacle that Roger Waters had to overcome with
the fine people of Toronto, and no doubt elsewhere, is the warm and
comfortable blanket of political correctness that people find themselves
cozied up to the fire in...the blanket that all too often, has people
distracted from where the wood pile is.
The visual on the big screen prior to show time features a tight shot of an
old radio, a bottle of Johnny Walker Red, a tumbler and an ashtray. A hand
fiddles with the knobs of the radio, a plume of exhaled tobacco clouds the
shot, a song is settled on..(was that Neil Young we were hearing? ) and the
man off camera pours himself a drink.
The sweet smell of hydroponic grass begins to spread forth like everyone
has gone to the same dealer; some folks even reach for their cigarettes..and
the others? One senses that they are brought back to the time where they
didn't wear seat belts as children...where their parents chugged cigarettes
from the front seat..a time where the paperboy was without protective
headgear - for some, arguably the safest memories they've ever had. As the
self imposed constraints lifted, the energy of the room seemed to be one
empowerment - and what better energy could you want, if on the bright pink
ass of a pig you saw graffiti that said "Impeach Bush Now" ? Exactly. This
isn't the Moody Blues you've come to see.
Roger Waters was most certainly 'In the Flesh' as he took the stage on
Wednesday Sep 20. The most controversial Floyd tune of all time for its
portrayal of a meglomanical character bent on tyranny; some who 'peered in',
wondered whose side Roger was on ...but many of the fans knew. This was not
an anthem for skinheads - it was a warning. Over twenty years later, and as
the world still scrambles to pick its collective jaw up from the floor,
George W Bush and his pals wreak their hegemonic havoc abroad while they
bounce cheque after cheque with a shrinking portion of the American people,
and anyone else for that matter, daft enough to think it'll clear.
The message at the show was simple - it was also an echo - again it said,
"Get him and get him now!"
George Bush and his spin team are trying to play on the sympathies of the
American public with some Rockwellian notion that you shouldn't kick a guy
when he is down. Assuming they clean house on Nov 7th, will the Democrats
see through this? Will they line up the neo-con scum and show the world what
they truly are? For Waters fans, it could hardly be more delicious; the
monkey on the cover of 'Amused to Death' bears a striking resemblance to the
one in the White House...and as Marv Albert narrates the sinking of an
aircraft carrier from within a football stadium on the big screen, one can
hardly escape the irony of our own fascination with the spectacle before us,
for whether we have seen ourselves in that stadium cheering that submarine
behind the twenty yard line, or see our neighbor, the kick is simple:
nothing in this world can happen without us. We can cheer it on or we can
stay home curled up by the fire...consent by any measure, is still consent.
Given the sold out affair of Wednesday past, this writer knows one thing for
certain: there was a large number of bright and talented people in the
room..many of whom felt for some reason, that they need not wear their
shirts and hats from floyd tours past...folks in politics, folks in power,
folks on the assembly line, folks quoting Chomsky, folks writing music, and
folks who know the one thing that those fuckers fear are words and
convictions..not pipe bombs and arrows.
The sound, the lights, Roger, his band: of course...absolutely brilliant.
As a milieu of people quietly took to the streets...the cops looked
befuddled...was this rock concert or convention?
Something good happened last Wednesday in Toronto.
Del Vezeau is a concert promoter, agent, manager, guitarist and founder of
the Canadian Guitar Festival.
not all, of the obstacles that might impede or otherwise hinder the delivery
of that message. The first obstacle that Roger Waters had to overcome with
the fine people of Toronto, and no doubt elsewhere, is the warm and
comfortable blanket of political correctness that people find themselves
cozied up to the fire in...the blanket that all too often, has people
distracted from where the wood pile is.
The visual on the big screen prior to show time features a tight shot of an
old radio, a bottle of Johnny Walker Red, a tumbler and an ashtray. A hand
fiddles with the knobs of the radio, a plume of exhaled tobacco clouds the
shot, a song is settled on..(was that Neil Young we were hearing? ) and the
man off camera pours himself a drink.
The sweet smell of hydroponic grass begins to spread forth like everyone
has gone to the same dealer; some folks even reach for their cigarettes..and
the others? One senses that they are brought back to the time where they
didn't wear seat belts as children...where their parents chugged cigarettes
from the front seat..a time where the paperboy was without protective
headgear - for some, arguably the safest memories they've ever had. As the
self imposed constraints lifted, the energy of the room seemed to be one
empowerment - and what better energy could you want, if on the bright pink
ass of a pig you saw graffiti that said "Impeach Bush Now" ? Exactly. This
isn't the Moody Blues you've come to see.
Roger Waters was most certainly 'In the Flesh' as he took the stage on
Wednesday Sep 20. The most controversial Floyd tune of all time for its
portrayal of a meglomanical character bent on tyranny; some who 'peered in',
wondered whose side Roger was on ...but many of the fans knew. This was not
an anthem for skinheads - it was a warning. Over twenty years later, and as
the world still scrambles to pick its collective jaw up from the floor,
George W Bush and his pals wreak their hegemonic havoc abroad while they
bounce cheque after cheque with a shrinking portion of the American people,
and anyone else for that matter, daft enough to think it'll clear.
The message at the show was simple - it was also an echo - again it said,
"Get him and get him now!"
George Bush and his spin team are trying to play on the sympathies of the
American public with some Rockwellian notion that you shouldn't kick a guy
when he is down. Assuming they clean house on Nov 7th, will the Democrats
see through this? Will they line up the neo-con scum and show the world what
they truly are? For Waters fans, it could hardly be more delicious; the
monkey on the cover of 'Amused to Death' bears a striking resemblance to the
one in the White House...and as Marv Albert narrates the sinking of an
aircraft carrier from within a football stadium on the big screen, one can
hardly escape the irony of our own fascination with the spectacle before us,
for whether we have seen ourselves in that stadium cheering that submarine
behind the twenty yard line, or see our neighbor, the kick is simple:
nothing in this world can happen without us. We can cheer it on or we can
stay home curled up by the fire...consent by any measure, is still consent.
Given the sold out affair of Wednesday past, this writer knows one thing for
certain: there was a large number of bright and talented people in the
room..many of whom felt for some reason, that they need not wear their
shirts and hats from floyd tours past...folks in politics, folks in power,
folks on the assembly line, folks quoting Chomsky, folks writing music, and
folks who know the one thing that those fuckers fear are words and
convictions..not pipe bombs and arrows.
The sound, the lights, Roger, his band: of course...absolutely brilliant.
As a milieu of people quietly took to the streets...the cops looked
befuddled...was this rock concert or convention?
Something good happened last Wednesday in Toronto.
Del Vezeau is a concert promoter, agent, manager, guitarist and founder of
the Canadian Guitar Festival.