Reviews are coming in for the world wide Live Earth concert sponsored by the Alliance for Climate Protection headed by former vice president Al Gore. The reviews are at best mixed.

I am unable to review the event from my own experience because I was unable to watch it. You see, I have a problem. I love music, all kinds of music. But at the same time, I cannot stand noise. I especially cannot stand people who create ear numbing noise and try to pass it off as music. And every time I tuned to the channel that was carrying the program, that is all I heard.

Maybe I am repeating the attitude of my parents. Rock began when I was a teenager and I can clearly remember the disdain my parents generation had for it. To them, Elvis was the Devil incarnate!

But at least they had some mathematical precision in their playing, and most of them actually could sing in key. They were loud and the music was often fast. But it could actually be identified as music.

What I heard on the stage at the Live Earth telecast was simply noise.

People were slamming on guitars like they were trying to break them into pieces. The vocalists would grab the microphone and scream like they were dying. There was no structure, no melody, no understandable lyrics. It was simply noise and I cannot stand to hear that.

On one of the news cast about the show, some woman reporter was talking about the "wonderful energy" the performers were displaying. I am sorry. screaming and whamming on poor helpless guitars is not "wonderful.

Now, back to the reviews: Few of the reviewers were as critical of the performers as am I. But many of them condemned the lack of any clear message. Many of them felt that the concert failed in its expressed intent of creating more awareness of environmental problems. Some pointed out the mounds of trash left behind by the concert goers. Others agreed that other than the mantra, “we must protect the environment” little was said of a practical nature. Most of the recommendations that were offered were insipid and impractical, such as advising ladies to turn off the water while shaving their legs.

"Al Gore announced he is finishing up a new book about global warming and the environment. Yeah, the first chapter talks about how you shouldn't chop down trees to make a book that no one will read." --Conan O'Brien