Fri. Jan. 22

It's not very often here at the ougoing JSInk site that our advice is: Sit on your coach, turn on the idiot bos, watch for two hours. But tonight, well, you might just want to do that ... and open your wallet, too. It's the Haiti telethon on virtually every network you can shake a stick at, put together by MTV, which once stood for Music Television and now is kiddie reality show central. Ah, but the Live Aid charitable heart still beats and the George Clooney/Wyclef Jean-hosted event is on from 8-10. Now, here’s something we got from Babson Prof. Jeff Melnick’s take on packaging tonight’s telethon. He's an Associate Professor of American Studies at the college.

"It will be interesting to track how this Friday’s Haiti fundraising telethon “packages” this most horrifying tragedy. Major fundraisers featuring primarily rock-era music performances had a 30 year history at this point, which begins with 1971’s "Concert for Bangladesh," a Madison Square Garden show (and later film) that George Harrison organized to call attention to that country’s war and famine-related devastation.  Since then popular musicians have regulalry banded together in telethons (or consciousness-raising tours) in support of Amnesty International, American farmers, and victims of famine in Ethiopia, among many others.

The post-9/11 telethon, "America: A Tribute to Heroes," was perhaps most notable for its careful scripting of national unity. Supporting Joel Gallen’s directorial work in Tribute to Heroes were a number of hugely influential writers, including key political figures, such as Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan (who claims credit for Tom Cruise’s and Julia Roberts’s lines) and Ann Lewis, a communications aide to Bill Clinton. The show not only acted as a summary of boomer style, affect, and political stance but also helped establish a grammar and vocabulary for the 9/11 art that would follow in its wake.  Important post-Katrina discussions of race and belonging were very much shaped by Kanye West going offscript during that telethon and claiming that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

Who will speak for Haiti during this telethon?  Will Wyclef Jean be framed as an authority? A victim? Hope for Haiti will likely go a long way to defining American visions of Haiti and its people."

Expect to see Bono, Bruce, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Radiohead, Kid Rock and many many more, so many acts we're frankly wondering how they're gonna all fit the two-hour slot? Oh, and go to www.youtube.com and check out Peter Gabriel's somber but quietly spirited version of David Bowie's "'Hereos.''" 

NBC, CBS, ABC, MTV etc.