I attended the concert when it was in Iowa some years ago. I went as a photographer, so was able to shot photos from just in front of the stage on a rotating basis with other photographers. I think what surprised me most (although in retropect I understand) was that while other stars were saying they were pleased to be there during the press conference, Neil Young said he wasn't pleased to be there, that the concert originally was envisioned as a one-time event to help farmers and to bring recognition to the country about the problems and now they were in the 7th or 8th year--can't remember which one it was. And of course the plight of the farmers continues to increase with the corporate farms and then with the mideast drought this summer. The line up this year sounds great and I'm sure you will enjoy the time if you go, and of course you will be supporting a good cause. Sally

Does anyone remember the incident (may have been at the first Farm Aid) when Van Halen were onstage? This was in the pre-Janet Jackson Superbowl era so things went out kinda live. Sammy Hagar, referring to a note he'd been handed, told Eddie that it was from his (Eddie's) wife and then referred graphically to Eddie's manhood (or lack thereof). The best part: Brenda Lee was the on-air commentator. The coverage cut away quickly from the band and Brenda told us, "Those Van Halen boys. You just don't know what to expect." Lots of Brenda's old song titles popped into my mind: "All alone am I" (bet she felt like it on that occasion!). "I'm sorry". "Sweet Nuthin's."

I miss live television.

My ancestors for generations were farmers...On my dad's side, his great grandmother was widowed young and had to run the farm with 2 daughters for most of her life. On my mom's side, their closest neighbors were an extended African-American family that had run a corn and alfalfa farm for 50 years.
So...Farm Aid is probably a good thing, but out of 15 headliners, 2 are women an 1 is a a racial minority. Van Halen, a bunch of middle-aged white guys running around the stage and talking about their weenies, sounds about typical.

Don't hold back, Susie, tell us what you really think!

Most of the working farmers and pulpwood loggers around our farm in Lee County, NC when I was growing up were black. In those days of segregated everything, the best music in the county came drifting over to our place from the little church on Tempting Road. Be nice to hear that on the playbill.

They should have Kabuki drummers too, in honor of all those farmers of Japanese descent who had their land swiped back in the 40s.

And Chinese opera, for the Chinese farmers and laborers who were forcibly deported by the Anti-Chinese League in the 1880s.

Let's not even get into the Pima-Maricopa, Navajo, and Hopi farmers' representation onstage.

And what about the Cherokee? When their Southern farms were seized, over 1200 fully operational flour mills were seized with them.

A little more inclusion would certainly help with our national memory...