Music

Between the Dixie Chicks, Neil Young, Pearl Jam and a host of others, pop music is finally getting political again in a big way. Oddly enough, the movies might have actually been ahead this round, thanks to George Clooney and a host of documentarians. Back in the 1960's, when our government lurched Right, it took a lot longer for the movies to catch up to the musicians, as the only Hollywood picture made about the Vietnam War while it was actually happening was John Wayne's ignominiously off-base The Green Berets.

I bring up musicians because I've just read McCain face-melter Jean Rohe's piece in Huffington Post on how she came to write her New School commencement speech (including the text of the speech itself) and accompanying bio. Turns out, she earned a degree in Jazz with some impressive stats for someone her age:

Since she transferred to the New School in 2002, Jean has sung in venues throughout New York City, including the Birdland, Sweet Rhythm, the Cornelia Street Cafe, Detour, Barbes, and others. She also teaches and performs music for young children at the Third Street Music School Settlement and at venues throughout the city. She recently completed her senior work at Eugene Lang, an audio documentary about her trip to Israel/Palestine during the Gaza disengagement last August. In July she will be performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.

From McCain to Montreux -- not too shabby.

I'm assuming Jean knows she's probably opened a big can of whup-ass on herself, and I'm expecting some odious professional partisan like Bill O'Reilly or Ann Coulter to lead the sliming. But musicians always have their talent to fall back on, and an audience that doesn't really care what the crumbling old finger-waggers say.

So here's to Jean, who may seem a little impetuous in her youth, but who's heart -- and axe -- seem to be in the right place. As Jean writes:

I think we must remember that as big as this moment may seem to me today and perhaps to other supporters who are reading this article, this is a very small victory in a time when democracy is swiftly eroding under the pressure of the right wing in this country. We all have much work to do, and for the most part the media do not represent us, the small people who don't hold any special titles but who feel the weight of our government's actions on our backs each and every day. I never expected to get the opportunity to speak the way I did yesterday, but I'm so glad that I did. I hope that other people found strength in my act of protest and will one day find themselves in my position, drawing out their own bravery to speak truth.

Play it, sister.