Rise by Eddie Vedder banned from school talent show

By Lost In Ohio
May 6th, 2010.

Ed spoke tonight about how since it was National Prayer Day today, he should mention that the band were thinking of applying to the U.S. Government to be sanctioned, making Pearl Jam a legitimate religion

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Ed spoke tonight about how since it was National Prayer Day today, he should mention that the band were thinking of applying to the U.S. Government to be sanctioned, making Pearl Jam a legitimate religion, and I just had to laugh – for some of us, they already are a religion. If you’re reading this, you’re probably one of the Faithfull (we got that tonight by the way… Since I was fortunate enough to be Row 3 center, I held up a sign during the first chorus of Faithfull that very much reinforced my belief in Pearl Jam – it read “Show #150. Ed smiled, pointed and laughed, throwing his head back between lines. I threw up my hands to testify – “we all believe, we all believe it”. So the PJ religion thing – I get it. Ed spoke of how Stone thought it would be a good idea to be sanctioned – they would be tax exempt, they could do whatever the fuck they want. He said there is only one Commandment, and its “Don’t be an asshole.” Easy enough, I’ll do my best. “Stone is our leader,” Ed told us (damn RIGHT he is!) “(he’s kind of) the Jesus of the band”. There is only one thing not allowed in the Pearl Jam Religion – “You can’t fucking Twitter – I hate that shit.” (Ironically, the founder of Twitter’s last name is Stone btw.) I almost pulled out my Crackberry and Tweeted that.


http://www.twofeetthick.com/2010/05/pea ... -columbus/[/quote]


I'm going with this....one line in particular
"Don't be an asshole...."

And add Leash to that setlist...

You have to do right by your daughter, but I would wear a Pearl Jam T-Shirt to every school function and teacher conference just to make a point.

I am a teacher myself and one year where I was working we had spirit week we got to wear a rock t-shirt to school. I don't remember what I wore, but we had a substitute that was there a lot. She was a retired nun who had taught I guess at a catholic school. She is a very cool and nice lady. She was not judgemental in the least which is probably the way religion should work. But I remember on that day she wore a John Lennon t-shirt. I thought it was awesome.

nursemomo wrote:

Hey thanks for the responses. It felt kind of like a punch to the gut talking to her today, and this is taking some of the sting out of that.

So, to turn things around a bit, what are the best Pearl Jam songs for kids?!

Maybe 'Save You' would have been better...

When i was in High School we'd get these bands come in from time to time... there'd always be a religious spin to the whole reason for getting the bands in, and 9/10 times the bands would talk about how the church saved them from drug addiction and so forth and took them in and they have never looked back...

What i ended up getting from this was that 9/10 people in the church were probably addicted to drugs at some point.. i mean come on.. the bible real?

so i discarded the religious spin and music became my religion... probably not through the help of these religious "acts" visiting

kellannazzie wrote:

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There is only one thing not allowed in the Pearl Jam Religion – “You can’t fucking Twitter – I hate that shit.”

I wonder how he feels about mike on Tumblr :shock:

Cosmo wrote:

In all fairness, it IS a Catholic School. They should have the right to edit the content of their activities... just like the rights of a Public School to omit 'Silent Night, Holy Night' from their Christmas shows... right?

I don't think that's a good analogy. A better analogy would be if public schools banned the hokey pokey because its author had ever said in an interview that he went to church. Regardless, just because they may have the right to do it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

acutejam wrote:

Sigh. Petty tyrants want to rule our world... and often do. Glad to hear you're not bent out of shape by it all, sounds like a great daughter you have.

Just wanted to say, Eddie sings about God/spirituality perhaps a bit more of late. At his solo show in Philly '09, during "Sometimes" after the last line of "sometimes I reach to myself, dear God..." He kept going... "I can feel you God..." adlib'd a few more lines along that. Twas quite heartfelt and powerful, remembering it hitting me like a ton of bricks at the time...

And of course the awesome "Black" at the Gorge when he changed "some kids at play" to simply, "God."

I'm surrounded by ... God.

And any other further discussion would delve into insights into his personal life that are frowned upon.... I think he's definitely feeling and thinking about something since the birth of his beautiful kids! hehehe...

My twelve year old daughter knows Backspacer better than me!

All to true and well said. When my daughter was born I re-examined my whole life including feeling a spiritual eruption I had never encountered in life. I have been an atheist my whole life until my daughter was born.

_ wrote:

Cosmo wrote:

In all fairness, it IS a Catholic School. They should have the right to edit the content of their activities... just like the rights of a Public School to omit 'Silent Night, Holy Night' from their Christmas shows... right?

I don't think that's a good analogy. A better analogy would be if public schools banned the hokey pokey because its author had ever said in an interview that he went to church. Regardless, just because they may have the right to do it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

Good point here. On a related note, I just read today that at a church in Pikeville, Ky, members of a Baptist church voted to ban interracial couples from attending given that one such couple decided to attend one day.

Imagine that. A church and its members (or the majority at least) who are supposed to be spreading love and goodwill have chosen to condemn the Love two human beings possess for one another. Wow.

So yes just because they have the right to do it, certainly does not make it right!

I completely understand not wanting to cause a scene over this with the school and I'm glad your daughter is handling the situation well. If it were me, I'd be ok with my daughter finding an alternate song, but I don't know that I'd let the ignorance of the teacher go unquestioned. It is the school's right (and, therefore, the teacher's right) to make decisions based upon the "moral code" of the community, but to do so with no baseline for what makes an artist "acceptable" is arrogant. The fact that she wasn't even professional enough to let the child down through the parent (by talking to the parent, first) is evidence, to me, that she knows the deck isn't stacked in her favor when the playing field is even. In this day in age, we can't always swallow our pride and let stupidity lead the way. There's a difference between challenging a decision for your own benefit and quietly/subtly challenging a decision to make the person in power think.

Earlier in this thread, someone said you should ask what artists would be acceptable and then take a step back to look at the character and lifestyles of such acceptable individuals. If you did that, chances are, the teacher's entire argument would collapse in about 45 seconds. It's not about changing her decision, really. Let her know her decisions stands--it's really about changing her mind. If anything, do it for her. Either it will enlighten her or it'll teach her that she can't wield power with ignorance.