[NJ News] Rage Against the Machine concert

infodiva@iname.com
Fri, 22 Jan 1999 12:34:07 -0500 (EST)


I have spent the last two days listening to the NJ talk radio shows discuss a concert that is to take place at the Meadowlands on January 28th. It is also a big story in the newspapers:

http://www.njo.com/news/times/stories/01-22-QLBBGFDB.html

Rage Against the Machine, The Beastie Boys, and Bad Religion are performing together and the tickets were only $30 -- sounded like a great concert at a great price BUT what was not revealed to the people who bought the tickets was that this was a fundraiser to help raise money to defend Mumia Abu-Jamal (whom the media have taken to simply calling "a cop killer).

The documentation surrounding the Mumia Abu-Jamal case is substantial. An altavista search on his name will lead you to both his writings (he was a journalist) as well as several other web pages that give the background on this case. For example:

http://www.iacenter.org/majessay.htm

http://www.internationalist.org/mumia.html

What I find interesting about this concert is that the bands putting on the show did not advertise in advance that this was to be a benefits concert and now that people have found out that there is a political cause behind the show everyone in the state -- including the Governor -- is getting involved! The big question seems to be this: If someone purchased a ticket because they wanted to see three good bands perform and NOT because they wanted to support a political cause (and possibly support a murderer)should they still attend the show for the sake of the music?

diva

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