The media
September 21, 2001 7:38 PM Subscribe
I am having a very hard time dealing with this new world.
posted by benbrown at 7:48 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by arco at 7:52 PM on September 21, 2001
I'm glad to see that competition has stopped. at least for this night.
posted by KoPi_42 at 7:58 PM on September 21, 2001
then listen and guess if that's a dial-tone or not.
posted by jcterminal at 7:58 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by bjgeiger at 8:01 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by wackybrit at 8:03 PM on September 21, 2001
I can't believe I didn't know about this. My life offline and away from TV has to stop interfering, dangit.
And I'm with you Rich. Going stir crazy not actually doing something to really help. The minute they ask for relief workers at Ground Zero, I am SO there.
posted by mirla at 8:10 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by disarray at 8:14 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by melgx at 8:15 PM on September 21, 2001
Any singalong led by Willie and Stevie can't be all bad. Shame about the cheesy between-song patter. Actors rarely look good reading sincere lines when not in character.
Mirla, I went down to Ground Zero (with a food delivery truck, last friday) and there was almost nothing for us amateurs to do. I gave out a couple of burgers, took a walk around the ruins, then fled.
posted by liam at 8:16 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by smackfu at 8:19 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by tommasz at 8:24 PM on September 21, 2001
Any singalong led by Willie and Stevie can't be all bad. Shame about the cheesy between-song patter. Actors rarely look good reading sincere lines when not in character.
Mirla, I went down to Ground Zero (with a food delivery truck, last friday) and there was almost nothing for us amateurs to do. I gave out a couple of burgers, took a walk around the ruins, then fled.
posted by liam at 8:26 PM on September 21, 2001
It was very alarming to see all of those celebrities answering the phones. As removed from mainstream media as I like to fancy myself, I couldn't help but think it would be oddly amusing to speak to Adam Sandler or Cuba Gooding Jr. On the phone. "Can I speak to Meg Ryan please?". Pretty cool idea though.
They should have been selling custom celebrity answering machine messages.
posted by glenwood at 8:27 PM on September 21, 2001
I was waiting for Clint Eastwood to ask bin Laden, "Feeling lucky, punk?"
posted by Mick at 8:28 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by espada at 8:32 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by davebush at 8:37 PM on September 21, 2001
Ah well...
nH
posted by niteHawk at 8:37 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by billybob at 8:38 PM on September 21, 2001
"They're talking to each other."
"Who?" I asked.
"The celebrities. I betcha they're only talking to each other or making outbound calls. They probably have a staff in the back to really take contributions" he replied.
Cynical, yes, but also an amusing thought.
So I'll ask: Anyone really speak to a famous type on the phone?
posted by ebarker at 8:42 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by Mick at 8:45 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by babydoll at 8:48 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by liam at 8:49 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by lnicole at 8:54 PM on September 21, 2001
How about something that really screams "AMERICA?" (with all due respect for our international friends who were lost that day...but it was, after all, American soil)
BTW, on MSNBC, they provided a perfect counterpoint: Liza Minelli (looked haggard & dazed, but sang great) at some baseball game in NYC, leading the crowd in a very spirited rendition of "New York, New York!" Now THAT'S what I call a tribute to American spirit!
posted by davidmsc at 8:58 PM on September 21, 2001
Wonder if the celebs are still there in NY answering calls...
I watched it on VH1... they did not delay the "united event"...
posted by ubrMel at 9:07 PM on September 21, 2001
Since I can't post links yet, could someone put this on the front page? I think that it deserves the spot : ).
posted by phatboy at 9:11 PM on September 21, 2001
I called at 10 CST - right after the show finished - and she told me that they were expecting 1.7 million total pledges for the night. They had just passed 4 million - and the lines were still jammed.
She seemed so damned proud to tell me that. Made my night.
posted by mecawilson at 9:12 PM on September 21, 2001
skimmed the posts... just noticed yours.. lmao....
I made the EXACT comment when I was watching 'ole Willy sing....
posted by ubrMel at 9:18 PM on September 21, 2001
skimmed the posts... just noticed yours.. lmao....
I made the EXACT comment when I was watching 'ole Willy sing....
posted by ubrMel at 9:18 PM on September 21, 2001
Actually, Tom Petty's rendition of "I Won't Back Down" kind of accomplished that in this context, IMO.
(BTW, is Petty turning into Willie Nelson circa 1972?)
posted by Dirjy at 9:21 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by machaus at 9:30 PM on September 21, 2001
He was a fucking drama queen.
posted by crasspastor at 9:38 PM on September 21, 2001
As for the show, I was a little put off at first by people who make 20 million a movie asking ME for money.... but after watching for a bit, I realized it was a great opportunity to see some truly talented artists. for free. Tom Petty was wonderful, and it was a nice little treat to see Eddie Vedder all cleaned up, in top form.
I also made the same comment about the stars talking to themselves on the phone, though....
posted by bradth27 at 9:40 PM on September 21, 2001
(does that mean Saving Private Ryan should have been screaming "FRANCE!"? ;-)
posted by holgate at 9:42 PM on September 21, 2001
i wonder how many other people thought of covering it.
I loved how adam sandler was pictured in the background the whole time. Willie nelson was the final act, pot will be legal in the US by the time "terrorism" stops. bonjovi sucked although i didnt care since it was for a great cause and hes American while enrique was great and he is Ameriqan.
oh, and i called MBNA 3 wks ago and they lowered my rate to 14%. after i asked them to lower it, they said "ok sir, we've lowered it to 18% which is lower than the standard
did anyone actually call and get through to a celebrity?
i love america, my balls feel like two giant gorillas fighting each other
posted by darth_smoothies at 9:43 PM on September 21, 2001
ironic that he sang "41 bullets" or whatever that song was?
posted by darth_smoothies at 9:45 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by crasspastor at 9:46 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by hotdoughnutsnow at 9:50 PM on September 21, 2001
Oh, and step off of Neil Young. The man is a god.
posted by Optamystic at 9:51 PM on September 21, 2001
Willie, however, looked like he just stepped off the set of Barbarosa. (wasn't that the name of that movie?)...hhmm...... some pot is good for you, some pot is bad, I guess.
posted by bradth27 at 9:55 PM on September 21, 2001
clint had a colostimy bag
posted by darth_smoothies at 9:56 PM on September 21, 2001
Did anyone else catch Jim Carrey stumble through his 30 seconds?
Is that Wilson Philips? Oh wait, thats the Dixie Chicks...
posted by Brilliantcrank at 10:00 PM on September 21, 2001
Actually I'm just waiting to find out who the doorknob was. I so have to get my hands on some of that man's material!
not like that
posted by crasspastor at 10:04 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by Optamystic at 10:06 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by centrs at 10:07 PM on September 21, 2001
"If the phones are busy, please contribute at the website..."
quite often. I guess they really under estimated the call volume.
As for Clint Eastwood looking old, he is 71, so he's allowed to look old.
Only this guy can get away with looking young.
posted by Grum at 10:08 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by crasspastor at 10:13 PM on September 21, 2001
And it isn’t a rah-rah USA rally. Or a ‘Yay Bush’ opportunity.
It isn't even about “victims.” It is about heroes.
I love that.
posted by halcyon at 10:20 PM on September 21, 2001
-- Rosie O'Donnell
posted by waxpancake at 10:21 PM on September 21, 2001
Celebrity spottings in frozen foods! ! hhhmm.....
reminds me of a poem....
posted by bradth27 at 10:26 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by Brilliantcrank at 10:30 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by otherchaz at 10:41 PM on September 21, 2001
Just because he's a once great artist who has sunk forever into sub-mediocrity is no reason he can't take a phone call.
Oh, ya mean 'cause he's blind!! I get it. (It's funny, 'cause it's true).
posted by Optamystic at 10:44 PM on September 21, 2001
Who the heck is this guy singing? whoa! that's NEIL YOUNG is playing the organ!
Assuming you were talking about the guy singing when Neil was playing the organ, it was Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam.
And it was Wyclef Jean, not Ziggy Marley.
posted by Sinner at 11:01 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by Optamystic at 11:07 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by waxpancake at 11:19 PM on September 21, 2001
I'm not sure why, but I'm very, very, glad that wasn't Ozzy.
posted by Optamystic at 11:25 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by jaustinspace at 11:25 PM on September 21, 2001
also, did you notice all of the couples in that singalong? tom cruise - penelope cruz ... clooney and julia roberts, etc. etc.
posted by gelatinouscitizen at 11:27 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by jaustinspace at 11:29 PM on September 21, 2001
I hope Marky Mark isn't the jealous type.
posted by Optamystic at 11:51 PM on September 21, 2001
posted by mathowie at 12:01 AM on September 22, 2001
Was the woman with the black head-kerchief playing the piano Alicia Keys? She was the only one I didn't recognize.
Fred Durst's additions to "Wish You Were Here" were awful. I kept waiting for Roger Waters to come charging out of the wings and tackle him and that stupid hands behind the head attitude of his.
Celine singing... I kept thinking, maybe she means, "North America"....
Springsteen's song sounded like a new one. Anyone know about that? It seems like him to write a new song for this.
And what the hell was up with U2 being shown in black and white? And was that Clapton with them? Who was that guy all the way stage right?
posted by bison at 12:04 AM on September 22, 2001
I thought that's what he had under his jacket, although he coulda been carrying a magnum.
posted by PMcCann at 12:40 AM on September 22, 2001
posted by gelatinouscitizen at 1:24 AM on September 22, 2001
posted by Optamystic at 3:18 AM on September 22, 2001
I'm still not sure about the fireman's hat on Billy Joel's piano, though. A nice touch or a bit too cheesy?
Springsteen rocked, though: you just can't fuck with the Boss, excuse me.
posted by matteo at 5:05 AM on September 22, 2001
I think it was Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics, but I'm not entirely sure. Somebody suggested Cat Stevens, but, really...
I thought it was Clapton myself for a while, but they would have highlighted him more if it was.
posted by arco at 6:13 AM on September 22, 2001
posted by joeclark at 6:28 AM on September 22, 2001
posted by Grum at 6:53 AM on September 22, 2001
Still can't figure out why.
Generally speaking, I was very impressed by the show. But oddly, I only really trust extremely established starswho had little to gain in terms of celebrity, like U2, Celine Dion and Billy Joel.
I still can't decide whether or not to respect people who I wouldn't have expected to appear for appearing. which is to say people who had more to gain by appearing than they had to offer.
Take Fred Durst - who is an acknowledged superstar - or maybe Alicia Keys, for example. After reading a Rolling Stone article (can't find link, sorry) on Limp Bizkit years ago I know that Durst aspires towards Madonna-esque media manipulation.
I'm sure combining all of those networks guarantees an astronomical viewship, so why not use it to market yourself? Especially for someone like newly-anointed-savior-of-music Alicia Keys, who seemed extremely out of place, to me. Not that I assume misdeeds on her part, but some executive must have been salivating at the chance to get her that kind of exposure.
posted by Sinner at 8:19 AM on September 22, 2001
Ummm, no he shouldn't've.
Born In The USA is a song about Vietnam - specifically, a song about soldiers returning from Vietnam to no job, no love, no life.
Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man
Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says
"Son if it was up to me"
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said "Son, don't you understand"
Springsteen has tried to point out for years that this is not exactly "Proud To Be An American" (or whatever that Lee Greenwood song is), but many people still listen only to the chorus and not the actual lyrics of the song.
I'm kinda sad to see that so many here on MeFi are down on the show ... I thought it was (for the most part) very well done. Showing celebs answering the phones (regardless of who they were talking to) was a great incentive to get people to call in. Loved U2, loved Dave M, loved "Limp and Goo" (as my roommate called them), loved Neil Young.
In a time when everyone wants to do something to help, these people (big bank accounts or not ... for the record I doubt Willie Nelson or Alicia Keyes have a million to donate) are doing what they can.
posted by anastasiav at 9:29 AM on September 22, 2001
Sinner, why do you say that Alicia Keys seemed out of place? Not the same 'caliber' of star as some of the others? Funny thing was, I was thinking along the same lines - that whoever that was (cause I didn't recognize her) was gonna get a carrer boost outta this. But I very much liked her performance.
Yeah, it was like a 2 hour all star Unplugged. But it sucked me in. Actually I wasn't planning on watching it until I read comments on someone's blog.
posted by mutagen at 9:43 AM on September 22, 2001
Sinner, why do you say that Alicia Keys seemed out of place? Not the same 'caliber' of star as some of the others?
Yes, that's exactly why. Similarly so for Enrique Iglesias (the bearer of the earlier-mentioned mole, by the way). Both have had a hit (or two, I think, in Enrique's case), but are nobodies by comparison to the (well, most of) the rest of the assembled talent.
Where, I wonder, were the Junior Leaguers - the Britneys and Christinas and N*Syncs - who had just collaborated with Durst and Bono on the charity cover of What's Going On?
I'd be very interested in seeing how the invitations to perform were sent out - I can't believe that any artist would have said no to the opportunity, so it seems clear to me that it must have been up to the organizers to decide who got in.
posted by Sinner at 10:02 AM on September 22, 2001
Hey, there ain't nothin' more American than hating the IRS, or feeling sorry for anyone that's done battle with them.
posted by aaron at 11:54 AM on September 22, 2001
Slash! That's right. You can see where I got confused.
As for Alicia Keys--great voice!
posted by jaustinspace at 12:04 PM on September 22, 2001
posted by jaustinspace at 12:06 PM on September 22, 2001
He sang it both ways, only doing the Post/Newsday thing the second time. Why? Well, when he wrote the song, the Times and Daily News were really the only two papers left in town that mattered. The Post was a dying, nearly-irrelevant liberal newspaper, and Newsday had no city presence whatsoever. I guess he was just trying to be a bit more inclusive and recognizing that things change, just a little bit.
oh and julia roberts
She was by far the most insincere person there. During her little speech you just wanted to reach through the TV and slap her in the face. Ecch.
I was a little put off at first by people who make 20 million a movie asking ME for money....
There have actually been a few big-time celebrities that have given real money; Julia Roberts has given $2 million (okay, I won't slap her now), Dr. Dre just gave $1 million, and so has Jim Carrey and Rosie O'Donnell. But they're about it, as far as I know.
Anyway, Jerry Lewis must be pissed. He has to work 24 solid hours to pull down $50 mil. These people do two hours of barely breaking a sweat and they've made what, something like $200 million so far?
The truly sad thing though, is this: I've been running the numbers, and even if you add up everything that's been given so far - this telethon, the three major relief campaigns, all the millions donated by corporations - well into the hundreds of millions of dollars - it still only comes out to a few thousand dollars per victim's family. There were that many people killed by this attack. So don't feel content when you hear the hideously high tally of donations on the news; we've barely started to collect what's really going to be needed for these people left behine.
At least the NYPD and FDNY widows will be somewhat okay financially: They get their spouses' full salaries for the rest of their lives, plus a one-time stipend of something like $160K. Even some of the rich victims' companies are already starting to reneg on their pledges: Cantor Fitzgerald's already stopped paying salary to their missing employees' families, and they're dropping some major hints that they won't be getting their (almost certainly dead) spouses' already-earned 2001 bonuses either. This is especially bad since in the bond trading business, it's the bonuses that actually make up most of their yearly take-home pay, not the day-to-day salaries. So these familes are already teetering on the edges of defaulting on mortgages and horrible stuff like that, only a week-and-a-half after the disaster. And keep in mind it's Cantor Fitzgerald that's run by that guy with the slicked-back-hair-but-still-balding guy who's been on every channel twice a day as "the face of compassion on Wall Street during this time."
posted by aaron at 12:36 PM on September 22, 2001
posted by davebush at 12:49 PM on September 22, 2001
I heard him on the radio news one morning in a cab on my way to work and, I just felt for the guy... While I do beleive that they should be paying the widow/ers some financial help based on the expected salary of the victim, put yourself in his shoes - He lost 700 of the 1200 employees in the company. There is NO income coming in for the forseeable future, and he needs to provide for everybody... I mean - where do you think the money is going to come from? This man has no company, his finances are in ruins, the market is in ruins, and every day he gets calls from crying widow/ers asking for money he doesn't have yet... on top of that, he escaped death by ending up driving his son to school that morning, when he should have been in.
Anyways, my point is that hopefully, in the future, he will find the means to do what he can for everyone he is responsible for, but bottom line, is that there just isn't any money right now... perhaps the insurance will cover most of it, but...
nH
posted by niteHawk at 9:02 PM on September 22, 2001
Well, this isn't really the case. The company still exists. They have other offices, and of course all the financial data is triple- or quadruple-backed up in various places all over the world in preparation for just this sort of event. And indeed, Cantor was up and running again the moment bond trading resumed a few days later.
And it's almost impossible to underestimate the amount of money there is to be made in the bond market. This company was very rich, most of its employees were very rich. And they're still functioning, and making money every day. I'm sure the attack has caused them a mess of trouble, and has made a financial dent. But so much of a financial dent that they couldn't even keep on paying out the salary of these 700 dead people for even a single two-week pay period after the attack? Yes, I have a lot of trouble believing that.
(There's also the gnawing moral question as to how people as wealthy as these were could have all been such profligate spendthrifts that some of their families are seemingly already having trouble feeding their kids less than 10 days after the attack. But it's a secondary question.)
posted by aaron at 11:20 PM on September 22, 2001
posted by Dreama at 12:35 AM on September 23, 2001
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Will the music be available on CD in stores, and if so, will the proceeds go to the benefit fund? I would buy it as an additional contribution.
posted by mtevis at 7:47 PM on September 21, 2001