First, You have to understand that the 2000 Democratic National Convention was held in a prison. Seriously. Cyclone fencing had been erected all around the Staples and Convention centers, guards and metal detectors put at the entrances, and, best of all, a makeshift tower manned by police snipers was placed on the top of the sports arena where the bulk of the event was held. Yet more police were found observing from atop the roofs of adjacent hotels. When I got to the site and realized this essential fact--that the 2000 Democratic National Convention was being held in a prison--I realized that we (the protesters) had already won. Surely there was no way to contrive a more dramatic demonstration than this that America, now #1 in the world with over 2 million people (over half for non-violent "Crimes") in prison, is rapidly becoming a totalitarian state. Combined with the incessant buzzing of helicopters overhead and regular displays of force by riot police through downtown, the effect created was certainly that of a thoroughly modern major police state.

On the other hand, it may well be that the Democratic Party deserves a little bit of credit here. After presiding over the mushrooming of the Prison-Industrial Complex and the criminalization of a (my) generation, it's kind of heartening to see that they were willing to lock themselves up as well, at least for a few days. Lest you still think my writing purely metaphorical here, you should know that a couple of delegates who wanted to check out the protests complained that they weren't allowed to leave the Staples Center by the police.

Speaking of My Generation, on the first day of the Democratic Convention, I went to a completely unrelated event, that being a concert by The Who at the Hollywood Bowl. I had bought the tickets well in advance of the DNC and it hadn't occured to me that the two events coincided. As I was scurrying to find a bus that would take me home from work amidst the debacle that was downtown traffic control, it occured to me that I should probably be out in the streets with the people that night, instead of at the Hollywood Bowl with (mostly) the bourgeoisie. My friends in the LA Cacophony Society had planned a Zombies for Gore march that sounded like a lot of fun. Moreover, the politcally active group Rage Against the Machine were scheduled to play a free show in front of the Staples Center that night and here I was, giving another thirty of my hard-earned dollars to the group that famously Sold Out thirty-three years ago, albeit with great satiric purpose. Bottom line, though, The Who have been one of my favorite bands for literally my entire life and Rage, while I admire their militancy, just aren't in the same class musically, so political correctness be damned, on with the show.

And it was the right decision. If the show they played that night is a fair representation then the year 2000 edition of The Who is the best one since about 1976, certainly the first post Keith Moon edition where the drummer was the real star (no pun intended) of the show. Zack Starkey even looked like Keith Moon, he wore this red silk shirt that could have been one of Keith's except it was clearly new. But he fired up the band and Pete Townshend really had to work to keep up with him and John Entwistle.   The postmodern moment, the show taking place at the prestigous Hollywood Bowl (where they had been banned since 1967 due to their early, um, "Pyrotechnics") on the first night of the DNC, was when they played "Won't Get Fooled Again":
We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
--At this point I'm thinking what can this song possibly mean in this context, where the people in the front row paid something like $230 (my nosebleeds were $30) and some of whom are probably delegates or at least entertainment people who ante up "Big-Time", as Dick Cheeny would put it, to the Democrats. But as the song progresses--
I'll tip my hat to the new constitution,
Take a bow for the new revolution
--Townshed throws some empahsis on this part, clearly aware this song has added resonance tonight, Roger Daltry, well, who knows what's going on there--
Smile and grin at the change all around
pick up my guitar and play,
just like yesterday,
then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
--Suddenly I realize the answer to my question is this song means the same thing in 2000 as it did in 1971.
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss.
Yeah, sounds right to me. I mean, I never would have guessed that a Democratic administration was going to agressively pursue the most foolish policies of the Reagan and Bush administrations, tripling the spending for the so-called "War on Drugs" and proposing spending 60 billion dollars into research for research into the Strategic Defense Initive (SDI) or "Star Wars." Actually, it may be a disservice to George Lucas & Co. to use that nickname, since the Star Wars films (at least the first two, anyway) are much more plausable, well thought out, and, almost unbelieveably, more frugal than SDI.

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