Seems my passion for all things green and musical is rubbing off on Grist editor Sarah van Schagen, who has reported on the
greening of Bonnaroo, given us a good
comparison chart of the greenest music festivals, and now has posted an
interview with Aussie artist Xavier Rudd, following up on last year's heart-to-heart with fellow down-under heartthrob
John Butler. What is it about the Aussies that they keep popping up on the green-music radar?
But Sarah's got more than just a passing fancy for musical men at work--she's got a long and growing list of green music stories, as well as a smattering of Hollywood (ick) coverage and an oh-so-cute affection for alliteration.
So since I've been unable to line up my own interview with the Beastie Boys, I'll point you to her
interview with Mike D for another
big green concert last year.
How do we compare as green-music bloggers?
Like me, Sarah was
disappointed in Sasquatch for its halfhearted greening efforts at last year's festival, but unlike me, Sarah was actually there. And while Sarah posted way, way more about Bonnaroo than I did, and got to have interviews with musicians thanks to her all-access press pass, I still think
my post on the big bash was pretty good. More recently,
we've both commented in passing on surfer-boy Jack Johnson. And while we have also both covered BioWillie,
she picked up on his book while
I picked on him (but just a little) for the questionably sustainable concept of BioDiesel. And neither
of us could make heads or tails of the Virgin Music Festival's decision to use Darryl Hannah as an official spokesflack. But while she gets interviews with fun musicians like
Michael Franti and covers important, erm
, news like the greening of
Maroon 5 (only comment to that story: "such a shame they're terrible"), I dig out the real movers and shakers behind the green music scene with interviews
like these. But I totally whiffed it on the
Grammys. Sorry, kids!
Bottom line? It's not a competition, obviously, although I bet I could drink her under the table (a table at Bonnaroo covered in organic beer served in compostable cups, natch). Instead, I'll just continue to clue you folks in whenever she posts another exceptional article, and be glad that someone else out there cares about getting to listen to music without having to feel all guilty about it. And Sarah, I expect to see you at a music festival or 10 this summer. Until then,
I'll be watching you!
Labels: biodiesel, biofuels, Bonnaroo, festival, Grammys, Jack Johnson, John Butler, Maroon 5, Michael Franti, Sarah van Schagen, Willie Nelson, Xavier Rudd
Looking over at the upcoming concert list on the right, I see Willie Nelson's name. One of the bigger regrets of my concert career is that I haven't seen him yet. I had hoped to at Bonaroo '04, but he pulled out due to health problems (although he was ably replaced by Steve Winwood, who was frankly stunning).
It's pretty hard not to like Willie. Between the pot smoking, the tax dodging, the charitable concerts, and the forward thinking views he presents to a fan base that isn't known for being so forward thinking, he represents a complex human face in a sea of two-dimensional acts. I've
written before about FarmAid's sustainable food practices and how they could and should be a model for all other large festivals. He's also well-known for his love of biodiesel, and over the last couple of years he's gone and started his own line of the stuff, under the brand name
Biowillie. He's even starting
Willie's Place, a truck stop in Texas, to sell the stuff.
Biodiesel, ethanol, and other biofuels shouldn't be viewed as any kind of a panacea, no matter what Willie tells you. They don't do a thing to
improve vehicle efficiency, they're typically mixed with fossil fuels, they usually rely on petroleum-based fertilizer,
they do nothing to break the bounds of a continued corporate monoculture, and they are
linked to significant water quality issues (PDF link). But all that aside, supporting biofuels as one piece of the solution to fixing our energy woes is certainly a worthwhile endeavor. I'd rather see a tour bus running on biofuels and supporting family farmers than a tour bus running on fossil fuels and supporting ExxonMobil.
For some reason, I can't get YouTube to embed on this post, but here's a clip of Willie on NPR talking about the reasons he got into biodiesel (his wife talked him into it):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7LlsahCiLsLabels: biodiesel, biofuels, jason, Transportation, Willie Nelson
