Roger Waters re-edits his video to get some peace

Those who are convinced that Roger Waters' video was some sort of hidden anti-Semitic message will see his re-editing of his video so that the Star Of David doesn't follow the dollar sign as some sort of proof that they were right. But then if you can see anti-Semitism where there is none, you can see victory there, too.

Roger Waters sighs, explains that he's not an anti-Semite

To be fair, Waters doesn't need to explain what he's trying to do, as even the ADL seemed to have understood his stage show before they then pretended not. But Sideline have reported his formal response:

"Contrary to Mr Foxman's assertion, there are no hidden meanings in the order or juxtaposition of these symbols. The point I am trying to make in the song is that the bombardment we are all subject to by conflicting religious, political, and economic ideologies only encourages us to turn against one another, and I mourn the concomitant loss of life. If 'The Wall' show did have a political message it was to seek to illuminate our condition, and find new ways to encourage peace and understanding, particularly in the Middle East."

The other charge - that Waters deals with global politics in such a broad-brushed way that it would make a sixth form common room cringe - remains on the record for now.

The Anti-Defamation league thinks Roger Waters is just another brick in the wall

Roger Waters' thirtieth birthday performance of The Wall isn't going down well with everyone. And it's not just people who really wish he'd move on and do something else that are vexed; Sideline reports that the ADL are up in arms:

Abraham Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League director says: "It is outrageous that Roger Waters has chosen to use the juxtaposition of a Jewish Star of David with the symbol of dollar signs. While he insists that his intent was to criticize Israel's West Bank security fence, the use of such imagery in a concert setting seems to leave the message open to interpretation, and the meaning could easily be misunderstood as a comment about Jews and money. Of course Waters has every right to express his political views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through his music and stagecraft. However, the images he has chosen, when put together in the same sequence, cross a line into anti-Semitism."

It's almost as if Foxman is saying 'we know what he means, but we're going to play the anti-semitism card anyway' there, isn't it?

The ADL seem less worried about Waters' use of other religions' imagery, for some reason.

Hey, Ayatollah, leave those kids alone...

Roger Waters has given his blessing to Candian-Iranian band Blurred Vision's adapted version of Another Brick In The Wall targeting Iran.

Let's hope EMI get the memo and don't go stumbling in with take-downs.

This is the track:



I suppose anything that helps is a good thing, but can't help feeling that using a song that's thirty-five years old is a bit like picking Lord Carrington as the figurehead for your campaign. Still, at least it's not Rage Against The Machine.

Roger Waters sorry about defacing a memorial

Fair play to Roger Waters, he's been quick to apologise after his hapless advertisers slapped an advert over the top of Elliott Smith's memorial:

“I didn’t want to disrespect Elliott Smith’s fans, and I’ve instructed [the team] to remove the wheat paste immediately. It was a random pasting in the normal course of this, and I want to make it public that we had no intent to offend or cover up something precious.”

Well done, Roger. It was an accident, you've cleared up the error and...

Oh... what did you say to the LA Times?

“It’s not like this was some pristine monument and Roger Waters is the Big Bad Wolf who covered it up.”

So, you'd almost managed to make good but then had to go and issue a defensive sneer. That's probably worse than the original accident.

Also to the point, shouldn't a multi-millionaire like Waters be paying for his advertising, rather than slapping wheatpaste posters up all over town?

Bowling for a pig

How everyone laughed and pointed when Roger Waters set free a pig during his Coachella set. The pig floated above the sun-burnt heads of the gig-goers. And then floated off.

Which was a bit of a bugger, as Waters had spent a lot of money on that pig, and hadn't expected him to disappear. So he's now offering a reward for its safe return.

CMJ prints some details of how to identify the pig, presumably in order to help you distinguish Waters' pig from any other floating porcine balloon you might come across in California.

Get orf mi land

The good thing about the Countryside Alliance is that it's really shaking out people and making them choose sides - now comes the news that Roger Waters out of Pink Floyd, Sheila Ferguson from the Three Degrees, Christopher Biggins and Nicholas Parsons are going to put on a show to raise awareness of the problems of stalled careers, um, sorry, countryside matters.

Well, I must say, this glittering bunch of talent might make me change my mind about the whole fox hunting thing.

There's no hidden agenda behind the CA, of course - it's all out in the open:

"Concert organiser Maggie Heath told BBC News Online: "We want to keep the profile high of the Countryside Alliance.We in the countryside should be left to run the countryside without interference from people in the cities. It is about liberty and democracy."

Hmm - I should point out to our overseas readers that, despite what this may suggest, people in the UK countryside actually have votes at the moment, and the 'people in the cities' (they mean Parliament) they complain about were, um, democratically elected. It's funny that during the two decades of Tory rule, there were never any complaints about 'people in the cities' sticking their nose in rural affairs back then; maybe democracy only actually counts when the people you vote for wins the election.

This comes hot on the heels of Keith Richards getting a path moved from his Sussex home - just like Nicholas VanHoogstraten, then. The sickening sycophancy of the chair of West Sussex County Council Rights of Way Committee may upset some readers:

Chairman of the committee, Bill Acraman said: "Someone well known is more vulnerable than you or me. We are well aware of what the paparazzi do. We are well aware of what nutters can do. Whether they be Prime Minster or pop star, they are more vulnerable than your or I. I strongly feel we should be able to go the extra mile."

Well, walkers are going to have to go an extra mile now the bloody footpath's been re-rerouted, that's for certain, but what the starstruck Mr. Acraman was actually saying was a pop star is more important than a centuries-old right of way. Apart from anything, how is re-routing a footpath going to protect Richards from what the sensitively described "nutters" - do West Sussex County Council dismiss the mentally ill in these terms all the time? - I'm no expert, but I believe the determined stalker is not going to be put off by the lack of a stile and a fingerpost pointing in the direction of a private house. I await the building of giant tube in Chichester City Centre to save Mr Richards from being photographed when he goes to the shops, too.