ALASKANS HURL AT THE THOUGHT OF EARLE

Although tickets are apparently selling better than for any previous years, the more right-wing residents of Alaska have taken time off from trying to flog their state to oil companies in order to campaign against an invitation to Steve Earle to play at the Southeat Alaska State Fair. We're not quite sure what the American equivalent of Sir Buffton-Tuffton would be, but he's busily sending letters and buying advertising space to moan that a un-American Marxist has been invited to play at such an event.

Al Kelly, who lives in Haines, where the fair is due to spread it's message of killing royalty and redistributing wealth (alongside displays of produce), is far from pleased:

"I saw there was a lot of vulgarity and that (Earle's) concerts are very much political. And I didn't think the fair was a place for that, the fair being a family-type of gathering.
"The state fair, they've got the animals, the kids and there are so many beautiful things about it," he said. "To bring this in and dump it in the middle is insulting."

Local prospector Merrill Palmer dipped into his pocket to take out the adverts:

"He runs around with these communist hammer-and-sickle symbols as he goes all over the world, and I'm just saying, this is outrageous," he said. "This is not something that Haines should support."
Palmer took out a full-page paid commentary titled "A heads up to my fellow citizens by: Merrill Palmer," on page 6 of the May 19 issue of the Chilkat Valley News. Another commentary appeared June 16.
"Here's the bottom line: Would we in Haines, Alaska, in the Southeast Alaska State Fair, would we support Nazis?" Palmer said. "To me, the communist symbols that this guy runs all over the world with are 30 times worse than the Nazis, if you want to go by how many people died.

So, there's no way in which that's an overstatement there, then - clearly, inviting Steve Earle to play a country fair is on a par with getting Hitler and Himmler back together for a gig. We're not entirely sure how many people's deaths Steve Earle has been responsible for, but the horrors of the Bluegrass Archipeligo have long been recorded. Perhaps the good people of Haines should call for UN intervention, if that isn't calling in the troops of an illegitimate liberal world government?

music alaska steve earle