Monday morning water cooler 7.9.07

I am still really jazzed about the Live Earth concerts. I rarely watch five hours of TV in a week's time, but I spent that much time in one stretch in front of my set on Saturday night, thrilling to the music and the calls to action to address the climate crisis. Yes, it's true as Roger Daltrey of The Who chided, that these concerts took a lot of energy to produce. But if everyone who attended or watched was inspired to do just one (or one more) small thing to cut long-term energy consumption, the collective results will save manyfold more fossil fuels than the events used and perhaps even usher in a new creative way of thinking that we can live more  and better with less.

From reinvigorated 70s/80s greats like The Police, Genesis, Roger Waters, and Duran Duran to current chart-toppers including Snow Patrol, Kanye West, John Mayer, and K.T. Tunstall, the Live Earth line-ups were like manna to music fans, especially in concert-starved places like Boise. And because Live Earth shows were happening simultaneously all over the globe, the TV coverage provided only a taste of what happened worldwide. If you missed it Saturday, or you want to see more or watch your favorites again, pretty much everything is archived on video here ... including footage of Nunatak, the house band for the British Antarctic Survey. Al Gore and other Live Earth organizers said there'd be a concert on every continent - and they meant it.

Don't forget: Print on both sides of the paper, unplug your phone charger when you're not using it, and above all - as Chris Rock said - "drive a smaller-ass car." What were your favorite moments from Live Earth? What more will you do to save energy?

Comments

[Rob]

I am not sure if it was Live Earth or not, but there were three new people on the #8 bus this morning that I haven't seen ride before. Hopefully this will be multiplied accross other routes and other cities.

[theresa]

My favorite part was that they did not ask for cash, they asked for folks to just learn something new.

Following the old adage of when you know better you do better.

Sadly there are still a lot of folks that say things like "global warming has always been here it is a natural cycle". Hopefully more of those folks heard the truth this time, since it came from an artist they know. For some reason people tend to listen to celebrities; so it was good to see so many using there fame for moving an important message.

t

[Kitt]

Nunatak was a jolt, weren't they? One of the best.

[BoiseNick]

RSR should have been at our local MoveOn town-hall potluck Saturday evening, MMmm, maybe you were.

About 25 of us watched the DVD download of the Democratic candidates ( R s too chicken) answering citizen submitted video-questions on their solutions to damaging climate change. The food was Great and the following debate and getting to know other Dems was a tasty & rare treat here on this RightWing planet of Idaho.

Thanks to our hosts and all that came ! If anybody who was there would add their comments here, maybe we could interest enough Boisians to attend & have (dare I hope?) 2 or more MoveOn town-hall events to choose from .

[sharon fisher]

I really liked Nunatuck. I thought the broadcast tv version of the concert in general was really poor, though.

[Julie in Boise]

Thanks for all your comments. BoiseNick, I did get an invite to the MoveOn shindig, but I decided to skip it since I'd hosted six teenage girls for my daughters birthday sleepover the night before. (Why they call 'em "sleepovers," I'll never know.) Glad it went well!

Nunatak is the greatest garage band in the Southern Hemisphere!

Rob, great to hear a few more riders were on board Monday morning. Whether it was Live Earth or the recent PR over our declining air quality, it doesn't matter. It's just good to see people giving transit a chance.

t, you wrote "when you know better you do better." That's so true. Sometimes people just don't know what to do and they need a nudge - and they'll accept it more readily from Cameron Diaz than they will their granola neighbors!

[Tara Rowe]

Concert deprived Boise? Try out Pocatello for awhile to truly understand concert deprivation!

[Julie in Boise]

Tara, you have a point there.

[The Nickel-Plated JA]

Aah, but Tara, I suspect a lot of concert promoters *and* touring acts have a *HUGE* fear of Eastern Idaho after what happened to Marcy Playground nearly a decade ago.

[Tara Rowe]

What happened to Marcy Playgroung nearly a decade ago? Remember nearly a decade ago I was merely a decade or so old! ;)

[The Nickel-Plated JA]

If I recall correctly, they (MP) did a show in Eastern Idaho (IF?) as part of a tour in '98 that only drew like 695 people -- when they were expecting/drawing 5000 per show... the wheels came off the tour shortly thereafter and all-but sealed MP's fate as a one-hit wonder.

Of course, how much of that can be specifically attributed to Eastern Idaho and how much to the fact that their only radio hit was "Sex and Candy" (not exactly a made-for-Eastern-Idaho-sensibilities product) is debatable. But either way, the Upper SRV has been geographica non grata for major touring acts ever since.

[Tara Rowe]

Thanks Nickel-Plated. I wasn't aware of this. I suppose you are right about the crowd having a lot to do with MP's #1 (and perhaps only) hit. Seems the groups we get in Pocatello aren't too rough (i.e. Blessid Union of Souls, Switchfoot, Blues Traveler, Better Than Ezra) and even those don't have incredibly good turn out numbers. Probably because we don't have a decent venue around here.

[The Nickel-Plated JA]

I dunno about the venue part of that though; I'd think the Mini-Dome, er, Holt Arena wouldn't be a bad place to hold a concert -- bigger than a theatre, smaller than a (regular) stadium.

But yeah, I don't know how well, say, Audioslave would draw there, which is the underlying fear of course. Unless somehow Poky got a reputation as the kind of place major bands would do club dates in to prepare for a tour -- but it's waaaaay too far off the beaten path for that.