Music critic/writer Jim DeRogatis writing for the Chicago Sun-Times has two pieces that have caught my attention.
Last month he wrote on a piece on the end of Punk Planet - a Chicago based institution for the past 13 years which published its last issue for August.

“It’s not our intent to edit political comments in Webcasts on the Blue Room,” Tiffany O’Brien Nels,

Not their intent, they just keep doing it.

AT&T’s controversial edit of comments about President Bush from a Webcast of Pearl Jam’s performance at Lollapalooza last week was not the first time the telecommunications giant has silenced political statements by musicians.

An AT&T spokeswoman initially characterized the sudden audio edit that silenced Eddie Vedder’s lyrics “George Bush, leave this world alone” and “George Bush, find yourself another home” during Pearl Jam’s performance in Grant Park last Sunday as “an unfortunate mistake” and “an isolated incident.”

Why might AT&T censor such comments about Bush:
Donations between 2002-2006 of $7,975,087 to the Republican Party might have something to do with it. [I didn’t and won’t be looking but I imagine the Dems got a equally nice sum of money also].

As noted above, and from the article: AT&T’s Blue Room Webcast also had silenced comments during two performances at the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee last June, cutting remarks by the John Butler Trio bemoaning the lack of federal response to Hurricane Katrina and comments about Bush and the war in Iraq by singer Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips.

You can see the complete Pearl Jam clip below via Youtube:

And in related news:
stereogum presents: Classic Moments In Rock Censorship

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