I’m a huge fan of Pearl Jam. They rank right up with The Beatles as my favorite musical artists of all time. In the summer of ’09 I was able to see Eddie Vedder perform a solo show at the Orpheum in Memphis and it was an amazing night.
I just found out about this the other day, when my good friend Clint emailed it to me. Eddie Vedder is going to be doing an acoustic performance a few miles down the road from me. So what’s the problem?
It’s a benefit for the West Memphis Three.
Why is that a moral dilemma? Easy, I don’t know if they’re innocent or not. The problem is, I’ve never seen the documentary, I’ve never read any of the books, and I only know the barest facts about the case and what Pearl Jam tells me. So if I bought a ticket and went to this, would I be doing my part to help free psychotic child-killers, or innocent men who basically got sent to prison as kids for wearing black and listening to heavy metal music. I tend to lean towards the latter, because mostly what you do hear about this case is the fight to have it retried due to an alleged lack of evidence and the fact that the defense attorney was apparently incompetent. Also, that’s what Pearl Jam tells me.
Of course since the members of Pearl Jam have definitely devoted their time and presumably devoted their money to this cause, and I’ve bought all of their albums, I’ve probably contributed in an indirect way anyway. Now I’m going to watch the documentary so if this situation ever arises again I’ll be able to make a firm decision.
In reality it’s all a moot point anyway. I’ll be out of town this weekend. Also, I had a dickens of a time trying to spell “dilemma”.
I’ll leave you with the only YouTube clip I could find of that magical night at the Orpheum.
Did I read that correctly? Tickets are only $25? Wow, that would be awesome.
I’d say that you’re on shakier moral ground by watching the pirated concert footage on youtube than you are attending the benefit concert.
I feel justified in the footage. I was at the concert.
Watch the documentary. It’s brilliant for its presentation of characters. Plus, yeah, it makes you question justice in this country.
I just added the documentary to my Netflix queue and I noticed off to the side a little box that said:
“Recommended based on your interest in The Office: Series 1, Night of the Living Dead and Rosemary’s Baby”.
Now that’s an interesting combination.
[…] 20, 2010 by jeffwisdom A while back, I posted a blog entry on whether it would be morally okay to attend a concert if the money were going to try and free the […]