Pop Music Culture Update

Crusader Mike has been quite on eye of the storm but saw this culture note in the Times and was blown away. We got Jeff Beck, James Brown and Buddy Guy jammin' in the Moat at the Tower of London along with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings and Madeline Peyroux and Dionne Warwick. (Have you seen her lately? How're they going to get her into the moat? With a giant crane.) I suspect that control freakish as Beck and Brown have always been, a true jam would be out of the question, but the thought of a Brown-Guy-Peyroux Blues Brothers Sweet Home Chicago with Bill Wyman playing bass and maybe Charlie Watts sitting in on drums along with Beck playing lead would be very cool indeed. Perhaps the Dixie Chicks could come along. One of the most bitchin' things I have seen on TV musically in decades -- going back to the In Concert/Midnight Specials of the 70s -- was right before the tragedy of 2004. It was on late, has never been reshown to my knowledge and nothing else was released that I know of, but the MoveOn.org music show turned up. Bruce Springsteen, the Dixie Chicks, Jackson Brown, REM and a cast of dozens doing their thing. Highpoints to me included Michael Sipe and Bruce doing Because the Night (if only Natalie had shown); Bruce's set which was almost a throwback to the 80s shows he did; and the finale -- Natalie, Bruce Eddie Vedder and Michael doing a smoking cover of What's So Funny about Peace, Love and Understanding. If anyone has a bootleg of that show, I'd love a copy. Back when we thought music could change the world; well, it does, but not really fast enough.