hey rosie! that's nice, thanks. it's always good to hear from you.
"But what if they refused ever to tour again, after this, because of global warming? Then there would be no need to donate to environmental causes to make up for it, right? And would PJ fans get really mad and storm the barricades because they couldn't see the band again? What do you think? I'm serious and curious."
i understand why you're asking questions. yep, i think pj fans would be pissed. i went out to get my mom a b-day present recently -- and ended up buying the hubby two magazines that had them on the cover; one of them had an article that compared them -- the relationship with the fans -- to the dead in certain ways, the author was quick to point out ways they differ, but the fans are very dedicated and have a feeling like the band is a great old friend -- the music has been with a lot of the fans through all kinds of changes and has changed with them-- sort of like a life long friendship with the music. fans would really hate missing the tours, but . . . they are not coming to the south this year, and we're not pissed. i think some folks are but my friends and the hubby are like, well, that's disappointing, but . . .okay. we actually looked into going to see them in england, but that would have been terrible, financially and environmentally -- we were super tempted, then i found out i was pregnant and i was really glad we decided not to go.
"I mean if there was a band I really loved, I mean really, really loved, especially if they were as big and popular as PJ and they said "sorry we love you fans but we are going to spare the environment entirely by the fossil fuels we would waste by touring" then I would only love them all the more, right? I would hole up in my house with my loved one(s) and really enjoy their music and forget about seeing them live for a good reason."
right, true. i'd be like that. so would the hubby -- respect them even more. we have so many bootlegs of live shows that we would do something similar to that, not holing up, but doing our own thing with the music w/o the live show. we acutally used to do it a lot years ago, we'd open all the windows and doors, in the house, put five discs in, turn it up, get a bunch of beer and go outside on the back deck and have our own concert, for free, sort of.
"But if they instead do one thing and donate to make up for it...it's like...I don't understand?"
right, i've heard people say that. i don't know. i think of it the same way i think of my recycling, especially plastic b/c it's a petroleum product (and also sort of the way i thought of st. jude's extended metaphor of consuming too much and dieting); i've cut down on using plastic, but i've not stopped using / buying plastic entirely. should i? like the other day, i left my canteen at home and i had been out walking for two miles midday, very stupid of me yes, but i needed water and bought some in a plastic bottle b/c i needed it. it's sort of like that for me. should i not use this computer b/c it's made of plastic, etc. or should i not recycle any plastic or talk to other people about cutting down on the use of plastics and recycling them b/c i do use/waste some plastic?
i think what they are doing is a step in a more responsible direction, a step that we've not seen a lot of musicians or any other professions for that matter make, guster with the campus eco-awareness tour, neil young and willie w/ biodiesel, dmb with the purchase of forests, i can't think of any others, not that they don't exist, but a lot of musicians tour and do major damage to the environment with that without thinking twice about helping the environment. and i think it's just an attempt at more responsible compensation for using our environment, who else compensates the environment at all for using up the environment while doing their job?
and if nothing else it raises their fans awareness of how much carbon folks use when traveling and does negate some environmental damage. but i don't know -- people, many, have had similar questions about gore and his travels during inconvenient truth tour, and i can understand
if they stopped touring i don't know what would happen to their money/fan base. i know when they stopped mtv appearances and stopped working with ticketmaster (although that didn't last) they didn't fade away or become irrelevant, etc - - most of the fans still loved them regardless.
