the rix mix

If you think Live Earth is an event that will change world consciousness & behavior about global warming, there's a good chance you also think it's great entertainment. I kept switching over to CNBC during the Mets game, mainly hoping to catch Bon Jovi. Of course, there are cynics who'll say Bon Jovi was only a Giants Stadium stand-in for Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. Name Bruce's most recent hit single?

Live Earth is the sort of event fabulously rich celebrities & capitalist technocrats like to organize for themselves every few years. I wonder if Al Gore could have inspired it had he not won an Academy Award, which is what made him one of them. The old Al Gore was a brainy, rumpled, but likable former Vice President still existing in the shadow of a superstar named Bill Clinton. For the organizers, the fundamental challenge isn't to reverse global warming but to successfully use & demonstrate technology. & what better way to do that than with a series of coordinated live concerts from around the world, slickly-produced, broadcast on TV & on the web, edited on the fly as a primetime variety show? Stir in slightly offbeat short "message" films as commercials. & give everyone an opportunity to be part of the event by pledging to use $8 lightbulbs & "support leaders who share my commitment to solving the climate crisis..." There's no doubting producer Kevin Wall's committment to his causes, but Live Earth is his expensive playground, a chance to top Live 8. I don't trust billionaires, even liberal ones.

Labels: culture