經過多日的猜測，
現在在名單上的 Friends 有 Eric Clapton、Chrissie Hynde、
Stevie Nicks 還有 Sarah McLachlan，
David Bowie 確定沒有了，但是 Tom Petty、Keith Richard (from Rolling Stones)
繼續謠傳中。
這是在美國 Central Park 開的免費演唱會，
由 American Express 贊助並負責分發票券，
福斯電視台椰b電視上|轉播第二個小時，
但是也可以上網觀看這場演唱會，
網址是 http://www.blueconcerts.com
似乎是可以選擇用 MicroSoft Media player 或是 Quicktime 4.0 來觀賞，
而且據說提供六個不同的角度。
演唱會舉辦日期是美東時間 9/14 晚上 8:00，
換算成台北時間是 9/15 早上 8:00
Washing away the mud of Woodstock
By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY
NEW YORK - The stage Washing away the mud of Woodstock
By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY
NEW YORK - The stage is set for Sheryl Crow to join the elite ranks of
the pope and Pocahontas.
Tuesday's concert, a starry pop gathering
featuring cameos by Crow's
contemporaries, is only the third free,
ticketed event in Central Park history. It
follows a pair of 1995 headline grabbers:
the premiere of Disney's animated
Pocahontas for 70,000 fans and a Mass
led by Pope John Paul II that drew
130,000.
Tickets to Crow's appearance in the East
Meadow are limited to 25,000, but the
event will capture a far larger audience via
the first "trimulcast" of a live concert:
Starting at 8 p.m. ET, the show will be
syndicated nationwide on the SFX Radio
Network and fed on line at an American
Express Web site
(www.blueconcerts.com), where surfers
can choose among six camera angles.
The second hour, spotlighting Crow in duets with Eric Clapton, Chrissie
Hynde, Sarah McLachlan, Stevie Nicks and surprise guests, airs live at 9
p.m. ET on Fox.
The full concert will be broadcast from 8 to 10 p.m. ET Sunday on FX.
Street crews are distributing free tickets in all New York boroughs.
Proceeds from merchandise and sponsors will go to the Elizabeth Glaser
Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
"It's a challenge that brings a lot of pressure," says Crow, 36. "Since I've
known about this thing, I've had a constant twinge of nausea. There's no
overdubbing, no second chance. What I do onstage goes directly out
there."
Crow's chief concern is that TV-mandated commercial breaks will disrupt
the show's flow.
"I want the feeling of a rock concert, not a television variety show," she
says between sips of cranberry juice in the Four Seasons Hotel lounge.
She's unwinding after a harried news conference that found her mobbed
by photographers and flanked by city authorities and American Express
executives. Tuesday's concert is the first in a series of five underwritten by
the corporation as part of a campaign promoting its new Blue credit card.
"You always have reservations when a corporate entity is looming," Crow
says. "In this day and age, it's hard to escape that. But I was excited when
they asked me. Opportunities to do massive concerts, particularly a free
one, are few and far between."
Pontiffs and Indian maidens aside, Crow is delighted to join the elite club
of Central Park headliners, including Janis Joplin, Diana Ross and Simon
& Garfunkel. She sees Tuesday night's music club as a celebration capping
a year of triumphant touring, and she is determined to recapture the
rapture of Lilith, not repeat the defeat of Woodstock.
During this summer's third and final installment of the all-female Lilith Fair,
Crow consistently generated the warmest crowd response and highest
critical praise. Her '98 album, The Globe Sessions, jumped 50 notches in
Billboard. "My first reaction was 'God, how far down were we?' Lilith
was a testament to the difference the right tour can make."
Crow's Woodstock appearance, ahead of DMX, The Offspring and
Korn, was less satisfying.
"I didn't expect that mood," she says of the unruly throng. "A large part of
the audience fell into a mob mentality. From the stage, you internalize it to
mean it's about you. But I don't think it had anything to do with me or
anyone else on the bill. They were already in a vitriolic mind-set.
"Within three songs, I was dodging mud. My guitar and arms were
covered. And all I could think was 'This is an air base, not an open field,
and it's not raining. Where's the mud coming from?' They had actually
dragged it from the latrines. They were throwing something other than
mud.
"Putting cameras on people brought out the worst in them. They were
taking their clothes off, flipping off the camera, just crazy, notice-me
behavior. I looked out and saw a lot of kids who had no pride in
themselves and no sense of fellowship. For the first time in my career, I felt
I was no longer a part of the youth of America. I was no longer speaking
for any generation."
While Crow blames promoters for the high prices and harsh conditions
that agitated hostilities, she was dismayed by malevolent forces in the
audience.
"Even though the Woodstock name now represents something more
corporate, you still think of it as a romp in the pasture," she says. "If the
first Woodstock represented the '60s movement of peace and love and
some higher cultural cause, then what was represented in Woodstock 99
is also true and valid and an immediate reflection of the time. I think kids
spend too much time in front of computers. They don't feel connected as a
generation."
Crow won't let the experience stain an otherwise victorious year. Globe
won this year's rock-album Grammy. She produced four tracks for Nicks'
upcoming album. Lilith reaction is prompting her to add four weeks of
touring this fall. She's being lauded for her acting debut as a drug addict in
Minus Man, starring her boyfriend, actor/writer Owen Wilson (who
co-penned Rushmore and Bottle Rocket).
"The phenomenon of being the new kid is behind me," she says. "That
creates a lot of panic and fear, because in this climate you're only as good
as your last hit. But I'm enjoying my career so much more."
After years of nonstop struggle, she's easing into a slower lane, relishing
the scenery and keeping her eyes averted from the sales odometer. She's
not tormented that Globe went ignored by many radio programmers and
failed to match sales of her 1993 debut, Tuesday Night Music Club.
Industry pundits say the waning numbers may reflect a backlash against
female singer/songwriters, who continue to struggle for parity.
"All this talk about women ruling radio is propaganda," Crow says. "If you
listen to pop radio, women don't even represent 50% of the play roster.
What's really happening is angry, young, white rap music, and a lot of it's
misogynistic. A monstrous mind-set is prevalent. Those fans are not buying
records by women and are perhaps creating and exacerbating the mood
against women."
It's not the first time an industry hurdle has discouraged her. After moving
to Los Angeles in 1986, she landed the role of backup singer on Michael
Jackson's Bad tour. Though grateful for the break, she was troubled by
the greed and manipulation she witnessed behind the scenes.
"I was really naive," she says. "I believed that if you worked hard and
stayed on course, great things would come along. I lost touch with that
after seeing things on that tour that told me making it was about buying it
or selling out or doing things that didn't line up with your integrity. It was a
crash course in a particular side of the music industry. I wasn't sure I
wanted to stay in music, because it seemed like such a crummy, disgusting
business."
Her views changed as she formed healthier allies in the industry and found
her creative footing. "Now I'm back to believing that if you work hard and
contribute to the universe and your spirit is seeking a higher communion
and blah blah blah, then good things will come," she says. Those rewards
may not match her wish list, but she has learned to be philosophical in
accepting destiny. "All of it is out of my control, which is actually
comforting, though I'm still grinding my teeth at night."
Her year-long bond with Wilson seems to disrupt the pattern of failed
relationships chronicled in Globe, yet Crow isn't certain she's on the path
to goals of matrimony and motherhood.
"I was just talking to my mom about getting married and having children,"
Crow says. "She said, 'You really have to be grateful for what an
incredible life you've had.' So I'm letting myself off the hook. If my
relationship works out with Owen that way, great. If I don't have children,
that's all right, too. Life is never without love."
--
gender is just an excuse, relationship shouldn't just be an excuse,
love is often an excuse, although sometimes these excuses are all
we have to hold onto,
death is the reason and living is the celebration
- Beth Orton
--
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