As recently announced, Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse will headline during Weekend 2: @ New Orleans Jazz Fest 2024.
As exciting a news as this might be, some of the familiar rustie grains grousing has already begun. Outrageous ticket prices. Sponsored by "Someone". Fossil fuels sellout. Etc
While we all have the "Vampire Blues", a little perspective is in order here.
Look at the photo above from 2016's New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Concert w/ Neil Young + Promise of the Real. You see Neil playing directly beneath Shell Corp logo. And to the right is a giant Acura banner.
It's deja vu all over again.
Which brings us to a recent essay by The Flying Scotsman on the topic of New Orleans Jazz Fest/Shell sponsorship:
The world is wildly imperfect. That means our interactions with it are going to be imperfect, too.
Sure, the athlete who objects to McDonalds sponsoring the Olympics can pull out of the event altogether. That sounds like a great way to begin a career as an activist, or a charity fundraiser… but it probably also signals the end of her mainstream career as an internationally recognised athlete.
Compromise, compromise, compromise. Chaos, chaos, chaos.
So what do we do? How do we move on? How do we nip the compromise in the bud? How do we make a difference and make a living, too?
(See The Flying Scotsman on the topic of New Orleans Jazz Fest/Shell sponsorship)
So, in the meantime, travel back to 2016's New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Concert w/ Neil Young + Promise of the Real and a concert report from our buddy Brian "Keys Left Hangin'". Folks were literally "being the rain" down in New Orleans that year.
Thanks for the report KLH! We'll see you soon. Be the rain (or snow, as the case may be)!
Awaiting The Promise +
To quote the man himself……”nothing is perfect in God’s perfect world”.
ReplyDeletePeace 🙏
I can see how Neil can bring his Love Earth message to more people by playing that show in New Orleans, Shell logo or not.
ReplyDeleteLife ain’t perfect, that’s for sure. I prefer the word compromise to Hypocrisy. We all compromise, or we are all at war!
Neil is by far the most vocal Love Earth kind of Rock Star, and I appreciate it!
If the fates allow it, I look forward to meeting up with some Rusty Buddies this summer.
I am Happy another album is on the way, as always! Stoked about tour activity!
Your Brother Alan in Seattle
Alan:
ReplyDeleteIn 2017, Dani Reiss (boss of the Canada Goose company) said this —
"We're not looking to change our plans (to use fur) in response to a loud but vocal minority".
So of course, environmentalists and animal welfare groups upped the pressure, and within five years of that first statement Canada Goose have been forced to begin to change.
It turns out the "loud minority" in the 21st century have a lot of power. Sometimes, they have more power than the mega-$$$ TV ad or marketing campaign.
Those who made their fortunes in the 50s, 60s, or even the 90s don't like this — because it's not a world they are used to. They are used to money and power going together. But increasingly, the guerilla activist has the advantage.
And very often that's a good thing.
It's because of people like you who take a stand for the environment, the people who refuse to be put off by excuses, or by contrived corporate statements about a brand's "core values", that we still stand a chance of saving the earth (and protecting our animal friends, too).
My point about Shell or McDonalds or whoever is not that we should *like* it, nor that we shouldn't be vocally critical.
(One useful question: what would a real life Sun Green have to say? What would she do? What reasons would she be satisfied by?).
At the same time, each of us has a life that uneasily meshes with a scary world that's full of competing values and dubious ethics.
In a world run by greed and fear, it's dispiriting when we find out that, seen through merciless corporate eyes, nothing much is sacred.
That doesn't mean we have to like it, nor that we should stop trying. But we have to find a productive way forward, and that's rarely easy... and unlikely to ever be perfect.
(Thanks Thrasher for linking to my article, above.)
Scotsman.