Pop Music Critic
Is there no rock 'n' roll event more conflicted than the charity concert?
No group of fleetingly fashionable unfortunates is beyond the magnanimous gaze of the recording industry, from Bangladeshi flood refugees, the oppressed Tibetan population and the survivors of the South Asian tsunami to the families of 9/11 casualties, Hurricane Katrina castaways and, in 2003, Toronto's own SARS-stricken tourism industry.
Music can be a healing force, yes. But when rock stars in possession of private jets, MTV-worthy "cribs" and bank accounts inconceivable to the $3-a-day export-factory worker who's just watched the only home he or she could build on $3 a day get swept away in seconds by a tidal wave start playing angels, doubt enters the equation, even among those self-appointed angels. They either tend to earnestly approach their position as a pulpit from which to engender human betterment while worrying in public they're exploiting others for personal advancement, or they simply show up, bust out a couple of hits and disappear into the comfort of knowing that helping their fellow men and women has driven a temporary spike into their record sales.
Today's global Live Earth events (on CTV, MuchMusic, MuchMoreMusic and assorted stations until 11 p.m.), organized by belated environmental crusader Al Gore, are at least attempting to address the wasteful nature of all-star rock benefits by limiting the carbon footprints and general litter-strewn, energy-sucking hypocrisy of such endeavours.
So, as we peruse a handful of the benefit-concert big guns, let's keep in mind these credos: Read the following really, really fast online to save power or, if you still purchase an actual newspaper, pass the bloody thing on, recycle it or employ it in the eventual construction of a papier mâché hut built of discarded Toronto Star papers.
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