Politics and Performers

I have not lots a lot of sleep over the recent flaps about Whoopi Goldberg and Linda Ronstadt. They each lost a gig (a commercial deal and Vegas slot, respectively) due to either negative comments about Dubya or positive comments about agitators like Michael Moore. The outrage at their negative employment actions are well meaning, but overlook the right of the people paying the bills to not have their performers say something they don't agree with. Free speech works both ways, of course.

But in today's USA Today, a letter writer brought up another perspective: that of the paying customer. His point is that he (and most other paying spectators) don't appreciate their entertainment event being interupted for a paid political broadcast on behalf of some particular point of view. He cites a 1988 Jackson Browne concert he attended as an example of when that happened and it pissed him off, even though he agreed with the politics being spouted. The letter concludes this way: "I agree with the late Frank Zappa who said it best: ''Shut up 'n' play yer guitar.'"

This was written without any irony, as much as I can tell. Zappa, of course, was a very political perfomer, from his early Mothers days until his death. His last rock band tour, in 1988, had lots of political stuff as the Reagan era came to a close. Make a Jazz Noise Here and Broadway the Hardway show that he was registering people to vote in the lobby. Meanwhile, the set lists contained such political fodder as "When the Lie's So Big" (taking on the GOP), "Rhymin' Man" (Jesse Jackson), and "Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk" (the religious right), not to mention the numerous "Swaggart" versions of old classics. Broadway the Hard Way, in fact, is so politicized that my brother, a recent GOP convert, can't enjoy it.

So, whatever umph the letter had disolved in a fresh puddle of irony right there on the page of USA Today. Not that he is completely wrong, of course. I don't want to hear a disertation on globalization when Marillion hit the states this fall. But I wouldn't be surprised if more "activist" performers make it a regular part of the act. In any case, caveat emptor.