American Rock Band Plays Cuba
Speaking of pop artists and Castro's placid paradise of artistic freedom, the band Audioslave recently became the first American rock band to play in Cuba. On May 6th, they performed a one-off show at Havana's "Anti-Imperialist Tribunal" to a sellout crowd. (No, I'm not making the venue's name up.)
After the concert, Audioslave's guitarist, the Harvard educated and politically far left Tom Morello and the rest of the band held a press conference on Cuban soil. As I watched the conference, (yeah, I'm an Audioslave fan) I sat on the edge of my seat waiting for Morello to seize what was clearly a premiere opportunity to make a political statement.
Now keep in mind that Morello is a serious leftist activist, who purports to fight for the "oppressed," against "racism" and for "social justice." His last band, "Rage Against the Machine," was famous for its in-you-face leftist revolutionary stance, its vocal support of far- left causes and its deep love affair with Noam Chomsky, so it would not have been out of character for Morello to engage in a bit of self-righteous political grandstanding.
Instead of truly rocking by publicly criticizing Castro's imprisoning and torturing of artists who dare criticize his regime, instead of standing on the conference table and demanding that Castro allow unfettered freedom of expression and that he free all political prisoners, an action that would have reverberated around the globe, the activist Morello, who has fought hard for the release of cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal meekly said, "Music can transcend politics. This trip is absolute proof of this."
Morello then thanked Cuba for being hospitable, saying he would recommend to other American bands that they play there.
I dare him to chuck the groupies and his fat bank account, and live there as Cubans do.
Audioslave's second album is due out in a few days. Based on the strength of the first one, I was looking forward to buying it. But I'm extremely tempted to perform a "revolutionary" act of my own, by downloading it for free instead of putting my lucre into the undeserving hands of hypocrite moonbat Morello.
To steal a phrase from Kantor, the guy's a schmuck.
16 Comments:
Given everything you already know about Tom Morello, aren't you being a hypocrite, too, by having put any money into his hands at all?
J
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Oh man, I read those links. Harvard educated and parrots party-line commentaries. What are his lyrics like?
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As far as I know, Morello doesn't sing--he's a guitar player. The last band he was in, "Rage Against the Machine," was hyper-left. The band he's in now, Audioslave, is so far non-political.
Real musicians like Arturo Sandoval had to leave Cuba to be able to play the kind of music they love.
We need to increase trade with Cuba. I say we trade Audioslave for Elian Gonzales.
Maybe Audioslave should change their name to "Useful Idiots of the World"
J. Edward,
I answered your question last night, then accidentally deleted my response--twice,so here goes again.(I'm having computer problems--looks like a re-format's in my near future.)
Audioslave's debut album was the first rock album I bought in almost ten years. I first caught wind of the band after hearing one of their tunes on the 'net. I was so impressed with the band's sound that I immediately bought the album online. Never having been much of a "Rage Against the Machine" fan, I wasn't familiar with Morello or his part in that band's radical politics or for that matter the depth of his activism.
My decisions concerning which artists get my money and which ones don't, is based on different factors. An artist's political bent is only one of the factors I consider. Of more importance is what social causes does a particular artist support and how passionately does he or she support them?
For whatever reasons, most artists lean left. If a right-minded person based their likes and dislikes in art strictly along ideological lines, they'd have little to choose from. Art, particularly music, is dear to me, so I normally don't deprive myself of an artist's output based strictly on the artist's political leanings.
However,what Morello recently did (or didn't do) in Cuba was so repulsive and hypocritical, that he'll never see my dime again.
Rocco,
I agree that Audioslave has a good sound, compared to the usual dreck. It's too bad that good artists usually expouse the most contemptible politics!
Please, also consider the fact that Morello co-founded a far-left organization called "Axis of Justice" with Serj Tankian of System of a Down. Axis of Justice even runs a monthly radio program on KPFK in Los Angeles.
"Axis of Justice" should be listed on the "Groups" section of DiscoverTheNetwork.
As for System of a Down, read the lyrics to their current hit single "BYOB (Bring Your Own Bombs)" here.
Anybody recall the old Cuban nationalist song "Guantanamera"?:
"Yo soy un hombre sincero
de donde creces las palmas
et antes de morirme quiero
echar los versos del alma..."
(I'm a sincere man
from where the palms grow
and my dying wish is to share
these verses from my soul..."
It's been in the repertoire of red-colored glasses-wearing communists like Pete Seeger for decades -- but cuba's the last place in the western hemisphere where that sentiment could shine.
NWM2112,
Morello's "Axis of Justice" is very, very small potatoes in the world of leftist moonbat organizations. It will likely remain so forever, since for most people it's really hard to take rock star activists seriously. Bono's the rare exception.
"System of a Down?" Saw 'em perform "B.Y.O.B." on SNL last week--crappy band, crappy song, crappy lyrics. The singer looks like Charles Manson and does a pretty good Tiny Tim imitation but I don't think that this band has what it takes to spark a socialist revolution. On the other hand, it definitely has what it takes to spark a run at the "return" lines in record stores.
I know I need to keep pointing this out, but a lot (and do I mean a lot) of Christian bands lean right and support various right-wing causes. Google for "Rock For Life" for instance and see what turns up. Also, Stuck Mojo was famous for being right-wing. Country stars are also generally conservative. Metallica used to as well (not so sure anymore) A fair number of hardcore bands lean right as well (except for the crazy vegan bands). So as far as music goes, there's a lot of good stuff out there. And don't forget the underground!
Art, particularly music, is dear to me, so I normally don't deprive myself of an artist's output based strictly on the artist's political leanings.
However,what Morello recently did (or didn't do) in Cuba was so repulsive and hypocritical, that he'll never see my dime again.
Okay. Well, if you didn't know Morello's past, having not been a RATM fan, I can see how you might have missed it - especially since Audioslave's lyrics seem so apolitical.
J
I almost feel sorry for Rocco. His desire to find a decent rock band that shares his servile suck-up attitude toward state power is certain to remain unsatisfied for the simple reason that robotic conformists are unlikely to choose creative music as a career.
The consolation is that Toby Keith's next album will be available soon.
I don't think that's a fair comment. Rocco said, himself, that he doesn't deprive himself of music just because of an artist's political leanings.
J
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