Matt Ingenthron's Stream of Consciousness

Thursday July 29, 2004

Cosby's Tributes at the Pacific Amphitheater

I went to see Bill Cosby at the Pacific Amphitheater last night, right on top of the OC Fair. It was a good show.

He opened saying he used to always want to give a tribute to Fred Rogers, who by all accounts was a great man. This time, however, he opened offering a tribute to four groups (paraphrased):

1. To the people who've served in these last two military conflicts and lost their lives, as they've given everything they had for freedom, both here and abroad
2. To those who are still serving on a daily basis
3. To those serving domestically (in the US), working to keep us safe in every aspect of our daily lives
4. To the families that support all of these people

Cosby has been both praised and villified in the press recently for some of the stands he's taken. Regardless of what you think of that stuff, I think it was a really good thing for him to offer this kind of tribute. You definitely get the feeling that he means it when he says it.

There was one other thing that occured during the show; a younger guy came up to the stage and gave him something and said "many of us in the African-American community support you" and indicated that the support message wasn't getting out in the press.

I don't know if it's accurate or not, but I could definitely see a situation where the true story isn't coming across in the press. I listen to NPR in the morning, watch Fox News in the evening, and read/listen to BBC world news online and on the radio. Sometimes I'm amazed at how different the perspectives are.

Author's note:I'd originally started this entry some time ago, but didn't finish it until today, 7/29.