Most Musicians Are Canceling Arizona Concerts-- But Not Elton John

Oink

So, my impressionable friend Irwing is in college and one of his classes gets addressed by a La Raza activist who goes ape-shit on Arizona's racist anti-immigration law, SB-1070, and tells the kids how whitey will never accept them and all. Irwing, who is descended from Mexican immigrants, decides to rediscover some kind of heritage and asks me to come with him to the beautiful Getty Villa in Malibu to see a new exhibition, The Aztec Pantheon and the Art of Empire. We did that yesterday. The Getty Villa is gorgeous-- almost worth the drive-- but the exhibition was kind of mediocre and Irwing didn't look that inspired. I was able to reinterpret the La Raza guy's rant for him in a more classic Marxist way about how the wealthy use the divide and conquer tactic to keep working people at each others' throats so as not to disturb a status quo that guarantees their own economic and social dominance. And we talked about practical steps we can take to undermine the racist politicians in Arizona who are behind SB-1070.

A couple weeks ago I was all excited because Los Lobos canceled their Arizona concert. John Amato at Crooks and Liars and I have been encouraging musicians to do that. The guys even made a statement about why they had made the decision: "We support the boycott of Arizona. The new law will inevitably lead to unfair racial profiling and possible abuse of people who just happen to look Latino. As a result, in good conscience, we could not see ourselves performing in Arizona. We regret the inconvenience this may have caused ... Talking Stick Resort and our fans, but we feel strongly that it is the right thing to do."

Other artists who have joined suit include Cypress Hill, Pitbull, Rage Against the Machine, Kanye West, Sonic Youth, Carlos Santana, Willie Nelson, Joe Satriani, Tenacious D, Shakira, Massive Attack and Hall & Oates (who were supposed to play at a July 2nd Diamondbacks game). Rage's Zack de la Rocha was organized an Arizona sound strike.

“Fans of our music, our stories, our films and our words can be pulled over and harassed every day because they are brown or black, or for the way they speak, or for the music they listen to,” de la Rocha said. “People who are poor like some of us used to be could be forced to live in a constant state of fear while just doing what they can to find work and survive. This law opens the door for them to be shaked down, or even worse, detained and deported while just trying to travel home from school, from home to work, or when they just roll out with their friends.”

The law-- SB 1070-- takes “racial profiling... to a whole new low,” the singer went on. “When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, they arrested her. As a result, people got together and said we are not going to ride the bus until they change the law... What if we got together, signed a collective letter saying, ‘We're not going to ride the bus,’ saying we are not going to comply. We are not going to play in Arizona.”

This week, when Hall and Oates announced the were canceling their show in Phoenix they made it clear they weren't boycotting the Diamondbacks... just Arizona-- and the team said they understood why the band had made the decision.

"In addition to our personal convictions, we are standing in solidarity with the music community in our boycott of performing in Arizona at this time. We would like to emphasize that this has nothing to do with the management of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who have been professional and cooperative throughout our dealings with them. This is our response to a very specific action of the state."

One artist unlikely to back out of a big payday is Elton John. Many have been urging him to do so but after the openly gay piano player took a million dollars from homophobic bridegroom Rush Limbaugh last week to play his wedding, no one seriously thought John would give up his show on July 21 at Tucson's Convention Center Arena.

Meanwhile, the Mormon chief of police in Salt Lake City joined other police chiefs in coming out strongly against racist laws like SB-1070, including Utah's similar SB-81.

Who Hasn't Cancelled Their Shows In Arizona?

Yesterday Joe Garcia, a Cuban-American running for the Miami-Dade House seat abandoned by a fearful Mario Diaz-Balart, tweeted that he was proud to have gone to the immigration reform march in Miami. I'm proud to be supporting his campaign. And in Washington Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) was arrested outside the White House, chanting "Si se puede". Here in L.A. there were something between 50,000 and 100,000 marchers downtown, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Cardinal Roger Mahony, both of whom spoke at the rally afterwards.

One man in the crowd wore a white T-shirt with black block letters reading "Todos Somos Arizona" or "We are all Arizona." Another bobbed a sign over the crowd with a swastika scrawled in between the names of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who strongly supported the new law. 

And, of course, thousands of people rallied in Phoenix and Tucson as well. A friend of mine told me he didn't go because the sheriff's thugs are too violent and out of control and he was afraid for his physical safety.

Latino activists, students, laborers and mothers with children in strollers met on the state Capitol lawn under the eye of Arizona authorities standing watch and videotaping the event from the roof of the state Senate building.

Meanwhile two industries that could suffer severely from Arizona's decision to go the police state route are tourism and sports. Frommers has already warned tourists to think twice before traveling to Arizona because of the self-righteous and violent nature of many of the inhabitants. Conventions are pulling out of Phoenix, which has invested very heavily in that business. The Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association said six organizations had already canceled conventions. And now major league baseball is the next front in a growing war which is asking people who believe in American values to stay away from Arizona Diamondbacks games.

"The Diamondbacks are like ambassadors from Arizona to the rest of the country, and the world for that matter, and we want fans to stay away until the law is rescinded or neutralized," said Tony Herrera, an activist with a national group calling itself the Great Arizona Boycott 2010.

Herrera said his group is urging fans to refrain not only from going to Diamondback games, but also from buying the club's T-shirts and other merchandise. He said activists would form picket lines to pressure fans not to attend a game in Chicago against the Cubs scheduled for Thursday.

The Diamondbacks had no immediate comment on Tuesday.

Arizona is home to an estimated 460,000 of some 10.8 million illegal immigrants in the United States and form the backbone of a shadow labor force that works in industries ranging from construction and agriculture to restaurants and child care.
Calls for an Arizona boycott spread beyond the state.

On Tuesday, California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat, called on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to do everything "legally possible" to sever the state's economic ties with Arizona.

In Los Angeles, a city councilwoman introduced a resolution calling for America's second-largest city to end all contracts with Arizona-based companies and "stop doing business with the state." It followed similar calls by San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera on Monday.

There is also a vibrant music touring industry in Arizona and so far none of the groups have canceled their shows. Some of the ones still scheduled are:

*Drive By Truckers at the Rialto Theatre in Tucson on May 5
*The English Beat at Club Congress in Tucson on May 25
*Crosby, Stills and Nash at the Dodge Theater in Phoenix on May 29
*Robert Randolph at the Rialto in Tucson on June 9
*Los Lobos at the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale on June 10 (Hey guys, bring your passports)
*Cake at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe on June 18
*Kings of Leon and Built to Spill at the Cricket Wireless Pavilion in Phoenix on July 10
*Patty Griffin and Bettye LaVette at the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix on July 20
*Elton John at the Tucson Convention Center on July 21