Just a thought.

I am sitting here thinking about this LIVE EARTH thing this weekend. Something I heard on the television keeps popping up when I hear or think about it. One of the members of the British band Arctic Monkeys pointed out the hypocrisy of this concert. These performers are going to show up with their entourage, by coming on their private airplanes, drive to the show in big posh gas guzzling limos, and then use huge amounts of energy to power the amps, lights, and all the amenities in their dressing rooms just to keep them satisfied. That doesn’t even take into account the band that is going to Antarctica to play. I mean how much fuel are they going to use? By the way it is winter down in that part of the world now, so if they fly the plane will not be able to turn off the engines or they will freeze up. Now, I’m no brain genius but it seems to me that is another HUGE waste of energy there. However maybe the plane will just drop them off, and come back when they are done. Does this whole thing seem a bit self defeating? What good is having a concert to save the world from carbon emissions if you are going to be putting tons of carbon into the atmosphere? Further is the Goreacle going to be at all the concerts or just one? If he goes to all how will he get there, obviously in a private plane, so that means he will be the biggest polluter on the planet that day.

Now I don’t know if any of you have ever worked a big rock concert, but I have, and I can tell you these people make all kinds of strange demands about what is to be in their dressing rooms. Van Halen for instance wanted K-Y Jelly in gallon jars, don’t ask, not tubes; at least that is what I heard from one of the owners of the company that catered their show. Others have demanded no brown M&M’s, I heard one band, at a show I worked, complaining about laminates, the plastic badges that hang around their necks so they are identified, and can go where they want, they were upset about the plastic. They wanted something other then plastic, said it was in their contract, but since they had to have them to eat they shut up and put them on. Then there is the meal, usually that is fairly straight forward but sometimes it can get outrageous only cooked with a certain brand of oil, or in certain type pots and pans. You may think I am making this up, but I assure you I am not, I worked a couple of shows with a friend who ran a catering company that did shows at Painters Mill, the Civic Center, Capitol Center, and the Lyric, and I heard the horror stories from her. Some were funny but other were just what are these people thinking. Anyway, back to my original subject, what are these rock stars going to demand and what kind of a “carbon foot print” will it leave. Hell, I am sure it will be more then I leave in a year, and that is just them getting there in their planes and limos.

So, as I pen this missive I have decided to not worry about my carbon output as the people telling me to conserve and live a carbon neutral lifestyle are hypocrites. Well, there is another rant by the Swamp Fox, hope you got a little bit to think about the next time you hear Sheryl Crow, or the Goreacle telling you how to behave and live, just remember they are living a lifestyle most of us will never attain, and have luxuries we can only dream of for the most part. Any thoughts about this yourselves?

Two quotes again this time, both I think are in keeping with the rant above.

“The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men.” —Samuel Adams

"A man may conduct himself well in both adversity and good fortune, but if you want to test his character, give him power." —Abraham Lincoln

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