Bush Derangement Syndrome

Anybody catch the big fundraising concert last night?

HOSTED BY LAURENCE FISHBURNE AND FEATURING WYNTON MARSALIS, HARRY BELAFONTE, TERENCE BLANCHARD, KEN BURNS, SHIRLEY CAESAR, CYRUS CHESTNUT, PETER CINCOTTI, BILL COSBY, ROBERT DENIRO, RENEE FLEMING, DANNY GLOVER, HERBIE HANCOCK, JON HENDRICKS, NORAH JONES, DIANA KRALL, ABBEY LINCOLN, JOE LOVANO, IRVIN MAYFIELD, BETTE MIDLER, TONI MORRISON, AARON NEVILLE, DIANNE REEVES, MARCUS ROBERTS, PAUL SIMON, MERYL STREEP, JAMES TAYLOR, MCCOY TYNER, ROBIN WILLIAMS, CASSANDRA WILSON, JEFFREY WRIGHT, BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO AND MANY MORE!

Sounds pretty good, huh?

I couldn't sleep ;last night as I was so offended by the naked politicking. Why I didn't expect it, I'll never know. Here's an upper-west-Manhattan event televised on PBS -- was I expecting Paul Gigot?

Actually, I expected the worst, but they lulled me into false confidence. Laurence Fishburne was awesome, highlighting the Crescent City as a uniquely American example of different races and socio-economic groups working together. Marsalis holds some views which differ from mine, but he spoke with his horn last night: cogently and beautifully.

Ken Burns came on, and I tensed up a bit but it was unwarranted. He was criminally pompous (this coming from a guy on probation!) but he was not out of line. One comment stuck with me. He used the line "shameful Diaspora" discussing the evacuees. I'm sure that sounds good, but what, Mr. Burns, is shameful about people in Maine, Minnesota, Colorado, California and Texas opening up their homes to fellow Americans? Should we make a big refugee internment camp in Arkansas?

Robin Williams -- he was funny once, I remember, now he just preaches in a comic voice -- threw a little red meat to the Manhattenites with [channeling a hurricane]: "I'll hit Kennebunkport, see how fast the relief comes..." The crowd roared its approval, more so than for any of the music. But then it ended, no harm, no foul.

We cruised along this way until Danny Glover and Harry Belafonte came on.

You have TiVo, jk, you don't have to watch!

I wasn't smart enough to act. I listened to every word these two vicious, despot-loving communists said. "The floodwaters revealed a poverty of imagination as we chose to put the shoulder of technology to the wheel of death rather than the wheel of life."

They did give a check for $200,000 to the "Higher Ground" fund, which benefits musicians and the music industry. But their words were hateful, I'll seek another avenue to help musicians (Instapundit has acknowledged another group).

Then Elvis Costello, in his capacity as Mr. Dianna Krall, sang one of Allen Toussaint’s old protest songs, with Toussaint backing him up. On the way onstage he says "I heard on the radio that CONSERVATIVES (surely I can talk, there are none here) say we're spending too much money on rebuilding, but [Costello stops to stare into camera seriously through his dopey-ass Bono sunglasses] no amount of money is too much!" (Cheers...) I respect both of those guys, but they were badly outclassed. No, Elvis, marrying a great jazz player does not make you one. You are still a pop star, enjoy it.

Now I feel like crap. I was gonna give 100 bucks, but now I am too angry to give but not self-aware enough to feel that that is right. Do I send a letter to Marsalis? It would sound awfully petty and petulant.

Yet the PBS-ers so arrogantly feel free to insult half their audience, even on a fund raiser.

I was feeling nostalgic for Kanye West on the NBC benefit…

Politics Posted by jk at September 18, 2005 3:09 PM