> > Thanks to Michael Moore, on the way to becoming
> > indispensable:
>
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> > January 28, 2000
> >
> > How We Got Alan Keyes to Dive Into Our Mosh Pit
> > (and other scenes from our first week of shooting)
> >
> > Dear friends,
> >
> > Yes, that mosh pit, the one that has thrown a big,
> > weird monkey wrench into the first week of the 2000
> > Presidential campaign, was ours.
> >
> > And the marching band outside the execution of Billy
> > Hughes in Texas on Monday night, complete with
> > cheerleaders chanting, "George [Bush], George, he's
> > our man! If he can't kill 'em, no one can!", that was
> > ours, too.
> >
> > And, yes, that was us with Rage Against the Machine
> > on Wednesday as we forced the New York Stock
> > Exchange to hit the panic button and slam down the
> > steel gates over their doors, sealing off the entire
> > building an hour before closing time, and resulting in
> > my near-arrest by the men who wear the Giuliani blue.
> >
> > All this, and we are only four days into shooting our
> > next season of "The Awful Truth." If this is what a
> > typical week is going to be like for us this time around,
> > then I guess the line item in our budget for "lawyers
> > and bail money" is grossly underestimated.
> >
> > We usually don't like to discuss what we're up to
> > before we air our work on Bravo and Channel 4 U.K.,
> > but the Iowa Mosh Pit has become such a huge item
> > in the news that I thought you might want to know just
> > what the heck is going on.
> >
> > It was bizarre watching the Republican Presidential
> > debate Wednesday night, with Bush and Bauer and
> > Keyes all going nuts over what we did Sunday night
> > at the Iowa Caucuses. New York Times columnist Gail
> > Collins called it "the defining moment" of the campaign
> > so far (to read her column in the Times click here
> > <A
>
HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/library/opinion/collins/012800coll.html">http
> >
>
://www.nytimes.com/library/opinion/collins/012800coll.html</A>).
> > Jay Leno devoted a chunk of his monologue to it
> > Thursday night. BBC Radio woke me up this morning
> > wanting an explanation.
> >
> > Here's what happened:
> >
> > As part of what will be our ongoing "coverage" of this
> > year's Presidential election, we decided to go to Iowa
> > to see how far these candidates will go to get an
> > endorsement. We know they will take money from just
> > about anyone and promise favors and legislation to the
> > highest bidders. With that as our system of "democracy,"
> > it leaves us, the people, with few avenues to have our
> > voice heard.
> >
> > So, we announced to all the contenders for the White
> > House that "The Awful Truth" will endorse any candidate
> > who jumps into our mosh pit. Simple as that. No large
> > sums of dirty money, no favors or back-room deal making.
> > Just dive into the outstretched arms of 100 degenerate,
> > but registered, youth, and you are our candidate.
> >
> > I hauled this mosh pit around Iowa in a large flatbed
> > truck, crisscrossing the state and inviting the Presidential
> > candidates to join the teeming and tattooed masses. The
> > response from the candidates varied from a stunned and
> > frightened Steve Forbes (who quickly walked by the pit
> > giving it a nervous thumb up), to front-runner George W.
> > Bush (who told me, "behave yourself, Michael, I see
> > you're up to your old tricks, why don't you go get a
> > real job?")
> >
> > Gary Bauer, on the other hand, called the Des Moines
> > police, who sent five cruisers and a paddy wagon to
> > arrest the pit. The police, though, could not contain
> > their laughter when they arrived and saw the group of
> > purple-haired, pierce-lipped, 18-year olds jumping
> > wildly in place to the music of Rage Against the
> > Machine.
> >
> > Next, we drove over to a town hall event being staged
> > by former Reagan ambassador, Alan Keyes. As the
> > mosh pit rolled into the parking lot, with Rage music
> > blaring ("It has to start somewhere/ It has to start
> > sometime/ What better place than here/ What better
> > time than now..."), Keyes staffers came outside to
> > see what all the noise was about. When informed that
> > Keyes could get the endorsement of "The Awful Truth,"
> > Keyes' national field director dove into the pit, hoping
> > that would suffice for our support. He then brought out
> > "Uncle Sam," a Keyes supporter who was dressed in
> > full Uncle Sam regalia. He, too, jumped in.
> >
> > But we told the Keyes staff that it had to be Keyes
> > himself. Minutes later, Alan Keyes emerged and,
> > against the loud protests of his Secret Service agent,
> > Keyes climbed to the top of the makeshift stage on
> > the back of the truck and dove backwards into the
> > screaming mosh pit. He then body-surfed the entire
> > pit, carried like a wave on the outstretched hands of
> > the tightly compact crowd. He did a couple of body
> > slams with a spiked-hair youth from Ames High
> > School and left the pit with the official endorsement
> > of the show.
> >
> > "We knew Alan Keyes was insane," I told the press
> > who were trying to understand the irony or the point.
> > "We just didn't know HOW insane he was until that
> > moment. We now feel a responsibility to test the
> > remaining field of candidates."
> >
> > On Wednesday night, the five remaining Republican
> > candidates held their big New Hampshire debate. And
> > what did they spend their time fighting about? "The
> > Awful Truth Mosh Pit!" The Reuters news agency called
> > it "surreal," and Gary Bauer went into nutty overdrive
> > accusing Keyes of being "anti-family" because he was
> > moshing to the music of "The Machine Rages On" (!),
> > calling the group "pro-terrorist" and saying that's what
> > the "kids at Columbine" listened to.
> >
> > For the past three days, our phone has been ringing
> > off the hook. Hundreds of papers around the country
> > have covered the story. The pundits on all the blowhard
> > cable shows can't shut up about it. And for some reason,
> > for at least the better part of one week, we have been
> > able to get the Republicans to stop talking about who will
> > be best at taking away women's rights or building more
> > prisons and forced them to occupy their time arguing
> > about the moral merits of the Mosh Pit.
> >
> > As we head into the weekend, we are loading up the
> > flatbed truck and driving off to New Hampshire with
> > our portable mosh pit. We will personally attempt to
> > greet John McCain, if he was tough enough for the
> > Hanoi Hilton, this will be like Motel 6; Al Gore, the
> > mosh pit is perhaps the only place where being stiff is
> > an asset; and Bill Bradley, we are convinced this will
> > be his only chance to stage a comeback (plus, he's the
> > only candidate big enough to kick every one of these
> > kids' butts).
> >
> > Keyes had been written off in Iowa before he jumped
> > into our pit. The day after moshing, he scored an upset
> > third-place finish in the double digits among those who
> > actually cared about caucusing (90 percent of all Iowans
> > knew better and chose not to vote). These other
> > candidates would be crazy if they DIDN'T jump into
> > the pit!
> >
> > "The Awful Truth" is willing to multiple-endorse, just
> > like the big money people do when they write big
> > checks to both the Democrats and Republicans. To be
> > known as the only group to have endorsed Alan Keyes
> > is something we may just never be able to live with,
> > and we are hoping to rectify that in New Hampshire.
> >
> > This past Monday night, we attended the execution of
> > death row inmate, Billy Hughes, in Huntsville, Texas.
> > George W. Bush is now responsible for approving and
> > carrying out the killing of 117 people, a record. We
> > decided to show up and celebrate his achievement.
> > We brought a marching band, cheerleaders and fans
> > to hold a tailgate party in the prison's parking lot. How
> > did the pro-death penalty crowd react? Well, they're
> > threatening a lawsuit, so we'll do our best to get it on
> > the air in May.
> >
> > A few weeks ago, I was asked by Rage Against the
> > Machine to direct their next music video, something
> > I've never done. Their song is about the evils of our
> > economic system and the era of greed in which we
> > live. So, like, I had a few ideas...
> >
> > On Wednesday we quickly set the band up on the
> > steps where George Washington was first sworn in
> > as President, on the corner of Wall and Broad Streets
> > in lower Manhattan. Quite a large crowd came out of
> > the brokerage houses and banks where the business
> > of America is conducted on a daily basis.
> >
> > The police also came out. They ordered the makeshift
> > concert to cease, but before we had a chance to stop,
> > four officers jumped me and put me in one of those
> > police locks like you see on that excellent and
> > informative show, "COPS." One tried to break my arm,
> > the other put a choke hold on my neck. In all my years
> > of shooting in New York, I have never had this happen,
> > and all I could think of was, well, I just hope it's a new
> > plunger.
> >
> > When the band and the crowd saw this, they went nuts.
> > Hundreds of them jumped two police barricades and
> > tore across the street to the front door of the New York
> > Stock Exchange, ground zero of American Capitalism.
> > It was a sight to behold. The police were so distracted
> > with carting me away they couldn't catch up to the
> > band — who, by this time, had made it inside the first
> > set of double doors to the Exchange.
> >
> > At that moment, someone must have hit the riot button
> > inside the Stock Exchange because suddenly these
> > large steel gates came crashing down in front of the
> > second set of double doors. Then all the gates of the
> > Exchange came down. Clank! Clank! Clank! For the
> > first time anyone could recall, the New York Stock
> > Exchange went into lockdown — a full hour before its
> > official closing time. The police left me and rushed
> > over to break up the madness. But the band and their
> > fans are faster than I was and escaped the clutches
> > of the police.
> >
> > You can catch the video on MTV in mid-February and
> > me in court by late March.
> >
> > Well, that's my first week back at work. If you'd like
> > to see footage of Alan Keyes in our mosh pit, or
> > me body slamming Senator Orin Hatch, click here:
> > <A
>
HREF="http://www.michaelmoore.com/moshpit.html">http://www.michaelmoore.com/moshpit.html</A>
> > Or check out the Rage scene on Wall Street.
> > <A
>
HREF="http://www.michaelmoore.com/rageslide1.html">http://www.michaelmoore
> .com/rageslide1.html</A>
> >
> > I'll be back reporting live and moshing from New
> > Hampshire on "Politically Incorrect", Tuesday night,
> > February 1, on ABC.
> >
> > Until then...
> >
> > Michael Moore
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > <A
> HREF="http://www.michaelmoore.com">http://www.michaelmoore.com</A>
=====
http://rostasi.8m.com
http://www.forcedexposure.com/artists/hunt.jerry.html
Syntax, like government, can only be obeyed. It is therefore of no use except when you
have something particular to command such as: Go buy me a bunch of carrots. - John Cage
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