Live Earth D.O.A.

Ho-hum.

The predictable disease of stardom, whether of the Hollywood variety or among musicians, is egotism ranging from fragile narcissism to full blown monomania. Little wonder, then, that the Gore-Fest better known as Saturday's Live Earth concert was so much sound and fury punctuated by hot air. Or, as the (U.K.) Daily Mail reports, a foul-mouthed flop.

Gore now qualifies, of course, as one of the Hollywood crowd, having picked up his Oscar en route to becoming Bono with a better tailor. The concerts did nothing to raise public awareness of global warming, as the affluent segment of humanity has already heard all about it and the rest of humanity have more pressing concerns on their minds. The fate of the earth a century from now is of only modest interest to someone suffering from malaria or dysentery or trying to feed her children or find shelter or potable water. Only rock stars and their ilk could possibly convince themselves that jetting across the world to leave mountains of garbage in their wake could be a net contribution to stopping global warming.

Charity rock concerts, whether to raise money or public awareness, have a checkered history. George Harrison's 1971 Concert for Bangladesh was at best a mixed and controversial success. However noble Harrison's intentions or those of the many who (myself included) bought the subsequent album to support victims of the 1970 Bhola cyclone (think Katrina, only much worse), ineptitude and corruption both took their toll on the final results. At least, however, it was a humane attempt at responding to a genuine catastrophe.

Then again, as far as the motives of the attendees go, massive rock concerts "to change the world" have always been, to put it mildly, a mixed bag. Sure, some of the hundreds of thousands who went to Woodstock were bona fide "hippies." Most, however, were just there for the sex and drugs and rock & roll.