Re: 'big cigar' guys not smiling at all
 

Yes, I think I know what you mean. That's what I was getting at when I said that a relatively comfortable life keeps many people from caring about anything on a bigger scale. As long as they can afford a car and a TV, there's no reason to demonstrate. Hardly anybody would protest against an incision of some kind that hurts others, but not himself. And hardly anyone would favour a political course that would sacrifice some of his own privileges and commodities for the sake of some kind of benefit for the entire society...

Re: 'big cigar' guys not smiling at all
 

This is a much too pessimistic point of view IMO. You should see how it's like over here, there's an increasing number of associations where {mostly young} people get themselves concretely involved with society issues. It's the same people who tag things like "we're sick of ads - overdose!" on street ads at night and lead the local anti-advertising movements (some of them get fined regularly, but they must find that funny :D), the same people you can meet in these concerts up and down the stage. They publish free magazines, and fund the association by selling cheap pins and T-shirts now and then.

I do concede however that the description you make of a good part of this public (the perpetually stoned rastas, the fundamentalist commies, the clueless Che Guevara fans...) is quite exact. I have the feeling that you are/were at some point involved within this "scene" in order to know so well what you're talking about. :)

But these guys are not the majority of the public, luckily for us! The average "twenty-ager" people are STILL interested in the future of society a lot. On political and historical events, most of them are astoundingly clueless and awesomely naive, right, but they have a very strong curiousity of political ideas, provided a goodwilling soul deigns to explain them.

In my opinion, behaving according to this defeatist point of view is the very worst thing to do. No one actually educates people to anything - and especially this -, it's people who educate themselves according to the example you give them, and in this regard it is the duty of the most educated ones to constantly show examples to the masses. Take any example in history ; when those who master a domain of knowledge cease to practice it, the whole domain of knowledge vanishes away. Apply this to politics, and see for yourself what it gives :)

Back to the topic of music, I state that no, music is not dead, and yeah, it can and MUST still be a statment! 8D

Music is the art that conveys the most emotions (or put it differently, a significant amount of emotion the more quickly). I am personally unable to listen to Bach's adagio for organ in C or the one for violins in D minor without feeling as weepy as a blonde watching the Titanic movie, and I state this without shame. Identically I am unable to listen to a Muddy Waters blues without FEELING the pain that guy is expressing as I am unable to listen to punk rock without feeling an urgent need to riot, no shit! And I am ashamed to see this noble art in the hands of greedy label owners who suck more than $20 out of us for each disc bought where the artist will touch $5 at most, as well as I am ashamed to see a whole generation listening to music as if it was... wait, no. Not listening. They don't LISTEN to music. They just hear some noise. In the background. And meanwhile they're doing any frikkin thing else.

Holy shit, I feel they miss the point :(

Re: 'big cigar' guys not smiling at all
 

100% right - they don't listen, they just let it play in the background. Where I work, a radio plays all the time. They always wonder when I turn it off, and when I try to explain them that it's always the same shit playing there, that the "music" itself is bullshit and that nobody's listening anyway, they just say, rather helplessly, that they somehow need it as a background noise. I guess it's the same as with those people who have the TV running all day long - not that they really watch anything, they just need it somehow to fill their background.

Oh, and concerning this:
No. But as a student, you get to know a lot of these people. One storey below "ours" in the university is where the social workers are studying - and without wanting to express any disrespect towards social work itself, there are many who look like you imagine your average social work student. I've seen many wear the symbols and wave the flags of the former Soviet Republic, one of the worst "communist" regimes ever (although it actually was a dictatorship). When I was in Spain, I took part in a large student demonstration against a new university law, and there I saw some more of that strange melange. And when I was back in Germany, once when I went to buy some things in the city, I saw a demonstration pass under the train station where I was waiting - they had all the repertoire you want: Che Guevara flags, Che Guevara buttons, Che Guevara songs, Soviet flags, labour union flags - everything. I thought "guys, will you never learn?". When many students here were protesting against fees for long-time students (you'd only have to pay if you were more than 50% over the standard time of the respective course of studies) I refused to protest, because imho, this regulation makes sense. University is not a playground where ppl can have a good time for as many years as they want and make others pay the bill, after all - and I say that as a student! You see, this alone would make me a close-to-Nazi right-wing guy in their eyes... so no, no involvement in that scene, thank you very much. ;)

But what you tell about ppl spraying anti-advertisement slogans on ads sounds really encouraging! Here, they only spray buildings and trains, but leave ad posters untouched for some reason... 9_9
Fortunately (and that's the point where I finally come back to topic), the music scene(s) here look quite healthy. In some way, the commercialisation of that casting show stuff has even helped, because all interesting scenes are almost ignored by major labels, mass media and music TV channels. That leaves the disease called commerce out of it and allows for concentrating on what really counts. Sometimes you can regret that precious flowers aren't looked at by more ppl just because they're standing at a hidden spot, but then again this keeps them from getting trampled by the masses... maybe it's better that way. And even some casting show members show signs of rebellion, for example by refusing to wear the clothes they are supposed to wear or sing the songs they are made to sing. There was one girl who won a casting show, and she always said she liked rock more than pop, and she always wore flat shoes. In the last show, she suddenly appeared on stage wearing high-heeled boots, something she'd never had done if she hadn't been made to. Well, the first thing she did was take off her boots and sing her winning song barefoot... and she was much applauded for that nice way to state a public "fuck you!" towards all those marketing specialists... not all is lost, indeed. 9_9
I just tend to be very caustic in my judgements, more than I actually am. ;)