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David Bowie
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"Like all of you, nothing has prepared
me for the horrors of the last twenty-four hours. Like you, I never thought
I would see anything like this in my lifetime. Our world will never be
the same. The streets are empty downtown except for the few who live there,
trancelike, going about their day to day lives, walking their dogs, going
to work, or just walking. At some ghostly unseen signal everyone turns
his or her heads, crane their necks, looking to the patch of sky where,
twenty-four hours ago, the mountainous peaks of those two towers stood.
The sunrise was seen earlier today. No obstruction.
"The likelihood of survivors is paltry. Two friends of mine offered to give blood yesterday only to be told that it was not necessary, as there weren't going to be enough survivors to warrant it. A doctor, on his way to one of the makeshift morgues, suggested the victims would number many thousands. The emergency services are listening for the ring of cell phones or cries from the acres of rubble. When buildings of this size collapse, the cinder blocks sometimes form small pockets of space in the crush. It is possible some may survive this way. "The area of New York below fourteenth street has been declared a no-go section this morning. Lonely old sidewalk crazies, a permanent fixture of this city, who yesterday were crying aloud "where are all these people running to?'" are today asking, "where are all the people?" "Small mercies for me. My family and friends are safe. At this moment in time I have no personal knowledge that acquaintances or friends may have been killed. My heart goes out to those of you who do have family or friends missing. I hope beyond hope they are found. "Life here will continue. New Yorkers are a resilient and fast thinking people. In this way they really do resemble my own Londoners. They came together quickly in massive community support and silent determination. There has been no over-panicking. Over the next few days that calm may surely turn to anger. But today, there is just numbness, a horrible silence." |
Moby
| "To paraphrase Shimon Peres: 'This is
not just an attack on the United States, this is an attack on civilization.'
I go between anger and grief and bewilderment. Thankfully I have friends
over, otherwise I think I would lose it. I don't know."
"Forgive my anger at this... but imagine that you are Bruce Willis' bodyguard. Now imagine that you are paid remarkably well to keep Bruce Willis from being hurt. Now imagine that while you're on the job Bruce Willis gets beaten up and very badly hurt. "Isn't this analogous to the role of the FBI and the CIA and the military at this time? These organizations exist SOLELY to protect us from this sort of atrocity. Very simply, they have failed us. When we pay exorbitant taxes we expect a degree of protection and security from the people who receive those taxes. They have failed us. "The hundreds of thousands of people who will go to sleep alone because their loved ones have been killed by international terrorists have been failed by the institutions to whom they pay taxes. To whom they pay taxes to protect them from this sort of unspeakable atrocity. As tax-paying private citizens we have been failed by the institutions in which we once placed a modicum of trust. "I'm sorry for sounding so clinical, but I'm fucking furious. LAX [sic] security has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people. Criticize me if you want for being out of my mind with rage, but I've just watched 40,000 people die. I'll try to sleep now but I doubt that I will." |
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They Might Be Giants
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"Everyone here at TMBG would like to thank
all the folks who wrote in asking about us. I'm glad to say that all the
members of the Band, our management and crew and our families are fine.
Although we are based in the New York City Area, none of us live or work
in Southern Manhattan.
"As we all reel from the after effects and try to comprehend what has happened, our thoughts and love go out to all the victims and their families. "In our own little effort to show the world that you can't keep New Yorkers down, TMBG, their band and crew have jumped into whatever jalopies they could get their hands on and are driving cross-country to catch up with the tour. We are expecting to make the San Jose, CA show and hope to see you there. If you see our caravan on Route 80, honk for NYC. "Unfortunately, the following shows have been canceled. 9/12 Boise, ID Big Easy Concert House
"Please check back daily for further updates. "Please give blood and do anything you can locally for the people of NYC - we all are." |
Weezer
| Via webmaster Karl Koch:
"9/12/01, the horror, and the music ... Like you, we've all been following
the story of these horrifying acts of terrorism, and we are all just as
stunned and shocked as you. Normal life stuff, including the very act of
being in a touring rock band, seems incredibly strange. Everyone feels
terrible for the victims of this, and a sense of frustrating anger over
an inability to do anything about it. It certainly felt proper to cancel
the San Jose show and hopefully reschedule it for an upcoming date. Now
the question has come, that assuming we have permission to do today's show
in Oakland (and as of 4:00 a.m. PST as far as I understand it, we do),
should we? Should we say, as they say, 'The show must go on?
"It is impossible to know what is truly the 'right' thing to do here. Tons of you have written in begging for the show to happen, others have suggested canceling out of respect for the tragedy. It feels gut-wrenching to have to even think about what is supposed to be a musical celebration in such terms, but these are the terms we have to deal with. And as such, the guys have decided that (if they are allowed to), they want the show to go on. Why? I think Rivers summed it up best, when he said, 'I want to do something about all this, but the only thing I can do is play music…. Here, the unbelievable magnitude of loss is far more than can be understood, even if we contemplate it for the rest of our lives (which I am sure we will.) We all feel sad, we all feel terrible for those who have been lost and those who lost them, but it feels wrong to just do nothing. So, again, assuming Oakland allows for it, we will be there, rocking for you as hard as we can. We hope you can join us, and we understand and apologize if you can't.'" |
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| When I first moved to New York City, I
would go to the top of the World Trade Center and look out over the city
and beyond. I loved the view and the vastness of the five boroughs and
New Jersey was a source of inspiration to me. If I could make it there,
I could make it anywhere....and so on. My heart goes out to the loved ones
of those who perished there today, and to those whose loved ones died at
the Pentagon today. We must remember that peace is what we need, not war.
Peace.
One love, Chris Chris Frantz
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