Elvis: Johnny Rotten still has what to say

Posted by Yosef
16 August '10
H/T to Jennifer Rubin

In the U.K. Independent last month can be found a very sharp interview with John Lydon, aka "Johnny Rotten". Besides his exceptional musical talent, there has always been his caustic wit, or just plain caustic. Towards the end of the interview the following issue arose:

What I do know, having hung out with him for an afternoon, is that he's still always spoiling for a fight. As we're about to say our goodbyes, he pulls a sheaf of faxes out of his pocket. They are complaints, e-mailed to his manager, John "Rambo" Stevens, who lives in Arkansas, complaining that PiL will shortly be performing in Israel. One, from a fan called Lawrence Casin, declares: "I will destroy all my albums and paraphernalia that I have collected over the years if you bastards play that hell hole."

Most musicians, particularly those who have been around for 30 years, wouldn't let hate mail upset them. They probably wouldn't even read it. But John's anger is genuine. He wants me to record it, for posterity. "I really resent the presumption that I'm going there to play to right-wing Nazi jews," he tells me. "If Elvis-f--king-Costello wants to pull out of a gig in Israel because he's suddenly got this compassion for Palestinians, then good on him. But I have absolutely one rule, right? Until I see an Arab country, a Muslim country, with a democracy, I won't understand how anyone can have a problem with how they're treated."

That's our Johnny Rotten.

Whatever issues others may have with him, he gets my vote on this one!

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What Passes For Moral Authority These Days

Daled Amos
21 June '10

Captain Kirk: Nobody understands you in this century unless you swear every other word. You'll find it in all the literature of the era: Jaclyn Suzanne, the novels of Harold Robbins."
Spock: Ah, the giants.
Star Trek IV

Shelby Steele writes about today's moral giants?:

Rock bands now find moral imprimatur in canceling their summer tour stops in Israel (Elvis Costello, the Pixies, the Gorillaz, the Klaxons). A demonstrator at an anti-Israel rally in New York carries a sign depicting the skull and crossbones drawn over the word "Israel." White House correspondent Helen Thomas, in one of the ugliest incarnations of this voice, calls on Jews to move back to Poland. And of course the United Nations and other international organizations smugly pass one condemnatory resolution after another against Israel while the Obama administration either joins in or demurs with a wink.

Such is what the world has come to. Jay Nordlinger writes:

Couple of days ago, I was in a flower shop, and the owner is Israeli, I think. There was a customer who had on the counter a Hebrew newspaper. On the front page was a big, big picture of Elton John. He had performed in Israel. And the two men were saying, “Good for him.” (Yes, I guess the owner is Israeli.)

Has it come to that? Has Israel been so demonized in the world — so delegitimized by Islamists and their left-wing allies — that a concert by a foreigner in Israel is a big deal? Is an act of courage, cause for gratitude on the part of the locals? Has it really come to that? Is Israel now apartheid South Africa? That is moral perversion of so high a degree, it is dizzying.

(Read full post)

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Soft Targets

Jon
Divest This!
25 May '10

Like many of you, I’ve received a fair share of alerts that Elvis Costello has joined the ranks of entertainers planning to boycott Israel until the boycott “movement” gives them the all clear. A number of these alarms have been accompanied by condemnations of Costello as a hack, a has-been and a hypocrite, coupled with calls to counter-boycott the singer and (if it can be done with MP3s) burn his recordings for good measure.

In truth, I have a slightly softer spot for Elvis Costello than I do for Carlos Santana, another rocker who has decided to dabble in moral consciousness at the expense of the Jewish state, if only because I saw E.C. in concert once (at Brandies as a matter of fact) and a friend one succeeded in impersonating the British singer to get into a sold-out comedy club. The fact that celebrity endorsements (even ones in favor of causes I support) have always seemed pretty vacuous and imbecilic also keeps the danger signal of Costello’s choice flashing yellow instead of red.

Related article: Open letter to Costello

That said, if the last decade has taught us anything, it’s that BDS is pretty good at capitalizing on even small successes, at least in terms of keeping its militant project energized. So the recruitment of pop-stars as the latest anti-Israel bludgeon needs to be taken seriously. At the same time, placing this month’s BDS “triumph” in the context of how the whole boycott and divestment thing has been going over the last year or two might provide some guidance as to how to meet this latest challenge.

(Read full post)

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Open letter to Costello

Singer who called off Israel show no anti-Semite, just self-righteous hypocrite


Assaf Wohl
Opinion/Ynet
25 May '10

Dear Costello:

Firstly, accept my sincere apologies for being unable to refer to you as “Elvis,” for the obvious reason that you aren’t really Elvis.

Secondly, allow me to address your decision to cancel the show planned for Israel. I attempted to understand the reasons you referred to in your cancellation notice. You addressed the “humiliation of Palestinians civilians in the name of national security,” and I wonder what you meant.

Perhaps you’re referring to the roadblocks and fence we built in order to prevent suicide bombers from exploding in our buses and coffee shops. The dramatic decline in Palestinian massacres, from an average of one a day to almost nil may indeed be humiliating for them, as you noted.

Or maybe you referred to Operation Cast Lead. If that’s the case, you are in fact condemning us for deciding to put an end to eight years of rocket attacks targeting our kindergartens. If you think this is demagoguery, please go ahead and check the timers which the “humiliated” terrorists set for the rockets. They were aiming for the hours where our children head to kindergarten and to school.

Immediately after doing so, these terrorists rushed to hide being their own women and children. And why did they do so? So you, Costello, will see our response on your television screen, and proceed to express shock and suddenly call off your show in Israel – a year and a half later.

What exactly did you expect? That we’ll allow Islamic terror to butcher our citizens? We should remind you that we were not the ones to send our army thousands of kilometers away to spill blood at some remote islands near Argentina. We’re fighting for our very homes.

Related article: Elvis (yellow) Costello boycotts Israel, becomes “a silent partner in someone else’s mistake”

On this issue, Costello, you may wish to ask what British soldiers are doing in Afghanistan and Iraq, and why they’re humiliating the Afghan people every day without the latter ever dispatching suicide bombers or rockets to Britain. Did you also call off your shows in England? And what about the United States? Will you continue to perform there while Guantanamo is still intact?

(Read full letter)

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The Tribal Update exposes Right-wingers anonymous

Caroline Glick
Latma
21 May '10

(English subtitled, very Israeli. There was a time when the news-media viewed themselves as the oracles from on high. Latma is meant to prick that balloon. Y.)

In this week's Tribal Update from Latma, the Hebrew-language media satire website that I edit, our anchors Ronit and Elhanan discuss Holland's "abandonment" of Israel, Elvis Costello's decision to cancel his concert in Israel and much much more. They also exposed a new organization RA or Right-wingers anonymous and get an update on what's new in the Israeli children's book market this summer.

Enjoy!



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Elvis (yellow) Costello boycotts Israel, becomes “a silent partner in someone else’s mistake”

Robin Shepherd
robinshepherdonline.com
21 May '10

A very nice piece today from David Horovitz, editor of the Jerusalem Post, on rock legend Elvis Costello’s decision to boycott Israel.

Horovitz writes the article in the form of an open letter, and pretty much hits every right note on this the latest indictment of Europe’s long and inexorable slide into barbarism over Israel and the Jews. Costello’s decision to cancel a series of concerts in Israel was announced on his website thus:

“It is a matter of instinct and conscience. It has been necessary to dial out the falsehoods of propaganda, the double game and hysterical language of politics, the vanity and self-righteousness of public communiqués from cranks in order to eventually sift through my own conflicted thoughts.” [Meaning?]

“I have come to the following conclusions,” he says. ” One must at least consider any rational argument that comes before the appeal of more desperate means. Sometimes a silence in music is better than adding to the static and so an end to it. [Meaning?]

“I cannot imagine receiving another invitation to perform in Israel, which is a matter of regret but I can imagine a better time when I would not be writing this. With the hope for peace and understanding. Elvis Costello.”

Oh dear, oh dear. All of this can be summarised in a single paragraph: “I’m a coward who fears to stand up to the braying crowds calling for Israel’s isolation. I am incapable of independent thinking. I simply cannot deal with the moral and civilisational issues that the Israel-Palestine conflict throws up. I do not understand democracy. I do not understand terrorism. I have decided to take the easy and painless path of conformity rather than to stand up for what is right”.

(Read full post)

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