WHERE'S WYATT WHEN YOU NEED HIM?

It's hard for me to believe sometimes that the people living in Arizona are the offspring of those who settled here before air conditioning (talk about tough), braved the untamed western years (the Kurt Russell movie romanticizes it, Tombstone really was one tough town), and once had the cajones to tell the rest of the country to shove its political correctness and that naming the third Monday in January a state holiday was not representative of the desires of the majority of its population (30% are Hispanic, only 3% are black).

Of course the state later caved on that so the NFL would place the Super Bowl in Arizona.

I think many of the settlers who braved the elements to settle the state rolled over in their graves on that one.

And they are doing six-foot-under-flips again.

The Sound Strike is a collection of bands and musicians who chose to boycott the state in response to the passing of Arizona's controversial anti-immigration law SB 1070.

Faithful followers will remember my prior posts on this topic encouraging people to boycott these artists who fell victim to the sound bytes, calling Arizonans jingoistic without understanding either the situation in the state or the nature of the actual bill.

Now, organizers of the Sound Strike have shifted their focus and are no longer boycotting the state.

I say, Arizonans should still boycott the bands involved, but so desperate for attention is Arizona that the local media will kiss the ass of anything that gives them the opportunity to show that Arizona resembles a city rather than a loose collection of surburbs with no real identity to speak of.

It's been three years since Chicago punk band Rise Against last played a show in Arizona.

And the youth of Phoenix went to see this band last Friday, the same band that labeled them rascist not so long ago.
Perhaps a bit ironically, the Sound Strike movement chose to lift their ban on bands playing Arizona just as SB 1070's most controversial portion of the law, the part that states that law-enforcement officials should try to determine the immigration status of a person when reasonable suspicion exists, was passed into law.

Even with that being the case, Rise Against, whose music and members have always been politically outspoken, didn't mention the subject Friday except to explain why they chose to become a part of the Sound Strike in the first place.

The Airheadzona crowd was happy to dance and crowd surf while Rise Against played what they allegedly pass off as music.

According to what passes for a newspaper in Phoenix,  Rise Against put on a solid performance, much to the delight of their fans, who, after all, had been waiting some time for that performance.

Sadly, Phoenix lost a chance to send a message to the Sound Strike movement and to Rise Against, telling them that we'd rather separate politics and entertainment in the future.

But that would mean people in Phoenix actually would need to understand politics.

Which involves accepting the responsibilities of citizenship.

Which involves work. And reading. And thought.

Three things that Phoenix is not very good at anymore.

But there really used to be some tough motorscooters living here. One hundred and twenty degrees with no air conditioning, and these people were ranchers?

That's bad ass!

Where's Wyatt Earp when you need him?