I'll tell you where all that stuff is Danny....it is unpatriotic to show your feelings regarding the war. It is present in the government...where protesters are sent off to another route (where the Pres can't see them!) I found this in LaCrosse Wis where I was painting Mother's Day weekend. If you talk bad about the war...you are doing to our boys in the MidEast a disservice...looked down upon. Also, you may be a target for an FBI investigation!! (many people actually believe this!!)

It is just simply politically incorrect. I think it is sad....that we can't portray our feelings through our art, word...we want to get bought, viewed.

That is my take on it anyway! Thanks for bringing it up!!

Nancy

people on the folk scene reacted. see:

ani difranco's "self evident": http://righteousbabe.com/ani/l_self_evident.html

mark erelli's "the only way":
http://markerelli.com/onlyway.html

I can think of two reasons, offhand, why the music isn't there.
1) it's not profitable because there's no mobilized youth audience eager to buy it
2) corporate ownership of radio stations keeps the music off the air, thus removing a potent mobilizer of activism.

So is it a chicken-egg thing?

As I remember, folk music emerged in the early 60s in a grassroots way - hoots at Berkeley, the Free Speech Movement, etc. Blowin in the Wind by PP&M came out in 63. But it wasn't until the later 60s that protest music hit the top 40. One guess is that because there is no draft, college students don't have a dog in the fight, aren't organizing protests, and the artists aren't sticking their necks out. They saw what happened to the Dixie Chicks.

Which brings up #2.
Maybe there are a lot of artists writing, and due to the Telecom Act of 1996 allowing corporations (Clear Channel, etc.) to buy up chains of stations who may be implementing system-wide guidelines that keep protest music off the air. They banned the Dixie Chicks, after all. Is censorship happening at a corporate level? Is there a concerted effort not to stir up the kids? I don't know. Sixties protest music was fueled by civil rights and anti-poverty movements as well as anti-war. It was unstoppable. I'm not a music industry insider, so I don't have a clear picture, but it could be either way: either the music isn't profitable because there's no interested audience (kids just wanna have fun) ... or ... edgy music is being kept from the youth market at a corporate level, which keeps the lid on mobilization.
Or maybe some other entirely different scenario altogether.

The Beastie Boys' new album is staunchly anti-war (and anti-Bush). (See this Pitchfork article for details: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/04-04/09.shtml)

Lyrics like: "Since 911 we're still livin'/ And lovin' life we've been given/ Ain't nothing gonna take that away from us/ We're lookin' pretty and gritty 'cause in the city we trust." ["Sonic Reducer"]

jon stewart on the comedy channel's "the daily show" - of course his particular artform is transitory - but he doesn't seem to have any problem speaking up about the war and the current administration.

Michael Moore's movie got a twenty minute standing ovation at Cannes.

This is encouraging.

Art Spiegelman is doing some great anti-war stuff also.

You are right though, these are cautious times.

We need more brave loudmouths.

There are plenty of artists out there doing anti war art, poetry, songs and films. The problem is, they aren't being seen nor heard. It's called censorship. The mass media will not broadcast, air or even talk about these things (unless they want to bash us and call us unpatriotic). Our entire government is ruled by puppets who are only out to fill their own pockets. THere are lots of underground artists out there speaking out with their art about the war and the state of the world. They're screaming loud and clear but yet no one seems to want to hear them. They'd rather be inside watching television and being told what is 'right' and what is 'wrong'.
The artists are out there...you have to open your ears/eyes loud and clear and want to hear/see what they are saying.

It is sad - the last band I can remember that ever had any commercial success (and thus mass market influence) was Rage Against the Machine (I don't know if the reincarnate "Audioslave" makes anything socially conscious?)

AND it is absolutely appalling that Disney dropped Michael Moore. It is time for a revolution when corporations censor art and editorial in favour of government approval and funding. This documentary is fascinating/horrifying and is now playing in Canada, soon to open across the US http://www.thecorporation.tv

Patti Smith has just released an album with a lot of anti-war stuff on it. I heard an interview with her on BBC Radio 4 recently, they played a clip of one of the most outspoken songs and she was totally amazed that they did - she said that it would never have gotten airtime in the States.

I wonder if artists are perhaps suffering from information overload. I find that there's so much constant media saturation and information that it's easy to feel overwhelmed and unable to respond in depth to any one story. Perhaps the accelerated times that you mention is actually contributing to the problem.

That said, I've seen a fair amount of art about the war and terrorism lately (although I am in Britain, where it's far easier to be openly anti-war), so I do think that artists are responding.

Four words:

Get Your War On
http://www.mnftiu.cc/mnftiu.cc/war35.html

Hey, Danny, where have you been? Check out the Not In Our Name music project: http://www.notinournamemusic.com/home.php
I made CDs of some of these tracks plus others by John Prine, Chumbawumba, the Beastie Boys, the Ani DiFranco number mentioned earlier -- all made available free of copyright restriction on the Net -- and distributed them locally. The local FM staion has been playing the NION pledge for about a year now. In terms of visual art, I don't think you have to browse very hard to find a great many examples.How about the posters made available for free(by a guy now seemingly wrecked in the process)--download here:http://www.progressiveaustin.org/graphics.htm#posters)--and turned into everyday T-shirts, coffee mugs, and the like (by Cafepress). Or how about the flash anti-commercials, like these: http://www.bushflash.com/animation.html. Of course, none of these may be Great Art (I'm trying to remember the G.A. from the Vietnam War)but it shows artists are being active. And -- hate to say this -- but criticism like yours is usually self-criticism. Maybe you're feeling guilty, Danny!

Just an addendum to the above: the guy I alluded to so obliquely isn't wrecked at all! Just got a new address: http://micahwright.com/index3.htm. Yes, Micah Wright is his name. More posters at whitehouse.org. This poster project (rehashing WWII propaganda posters into anti-Iraq messages) was/is really thoughtful and ambitious. The posters are available in book form or on the internet with instructions on how to reproduce them for best results. I think this (and the NION project) are great examples of artists using new media for rabble-rousing purposes. Both are explicitly copyright-free and both are meant to be reproduced by the rabble that's been roused.

Stories like this don't help:

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Editorials/03OpOPN62051504.htm

There's a lot of good poetry but of course no one knows about that because no one really reads poetry.... Other than that, I have to say I'm waiting for a moviemaker to give us a "Three Kings" of this Iraq war/Afghanistan.

Springsteen "forgettable" ?!

I thought the composite image of Bush made from photographs of dead American soldiers was pretty moving:
http://photomatt.net/archives/2004/04/07/mosaic/

It would have been even more moving if there had been a few Iraqis in there.

Hey, I forgot about this guy: http://www.freewayblogger.com/ I think one of the major artists for this war. His work is sharp, seen by thousands (got some network TV coverage, too), and takes guts -- he'll probably get arrested before the US leaves Iraq.
But, thinking about anti-war/political Great Art, I got to say most of it's pretty ephemeral -- who now knows John Heartfield or can feel the power of his "Five" poster? Anti-war stuff by Great Artists (e.g., Goya's Disasters) -- well, that's something else again.

try the tell us the truth tour with Ani, Steve Earle Billy Bragg and others.

tellusthetruth.org

Listen to non comercial community radio.

one of the best in my mind.. wmnf.org

Laura Loves.. I want you gone
alot of songs on Bruce Cockburns latest Cd

amazing strip, reminds me of eisner style thinking...

all your stuff is really good. thanks for a good site.

For what it is worth, the movie Love, Actually opens with a note about 9/11. I believe it says that it is worth noting that the messages sent from the planes as they crashed or from the buildings were messages of love, not hate.

and there's an interesting hip hop song that i've heard a couple of times on independent radio here in sydney

Makeshift Patriot by Sage Francis - look up the lyrics, I don't know how easy it is to find a copy of the song.

But he's got some interesting 'samples' in there - a section where some spokesperson is talking about the attacks, with lines like "we don't know who the culprit is yet, but he looks like this" and "just remember, that our god is bigger, stronger, smarter and much wealthier"

peter

Hmmmm... well, there's always Chumbawamba's 'Jacob's Ladder', which you can download from volume 5 at protest-records.com/mp3/

Have a happy!

I think it's out there if you look for it. But maybe people are just looking to Art for an escape at the moment. And maybe that's not such a bad thing, I don't know...

Its interesting watching this debate from the comparitive sidelines of New Zealand -& observing what seems to be the erosion of free speech & civil liberties in the U.S.A. Its like McCarthy revisited...
Have been heartened by the songs & perspectives of Steve Earle however- check out "Just An American Boy ".

And now Michael Moore won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. There were an unusually large number of Americans in the jury this year, just to point out that this award isn't one given out by only Europeans. Quentin Tarantino was president of the jury. I think this is great.
Apart from that, I agree with you, Danny. I live in Denmark, and there certainly isn't an anti-war movement in neither art nor music here, although there easily could (and should) have been. Danish soldiers are down there too, you know. I really wonder why it is so? People are against it, but it seems like they think the fight is not worth fighting. It's strange.

Shortly after 9/11, the quilting community on the quiltart list (www.quiltart.com) began making art quilts in response. The quilts were shown at a national show, and some were auctioned off to raise money for contributions, and a book, America from the Heart: Quilters Remember September 11, 2001
by Karey Bresenhan (Editor) was published. The book description says "Featuring images of the quilts along with statements from those who created them, these works of art are a moving declaration of America's strength and patriotism. All profits from sales of the book will be donated to the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund. "