an open letter to mr. vedder
dear ed,
how are you? it’s been so long since we last spoke. it’s also been a while since you put out a record with the old band, huh? i guess that’s why you decided to re-release ten with all the bells and whistles – still gotta pay the mortgage, right? oh, don’t get yourself in a huff. i’m just messing with ya’. i mean, i still don’t particularly *love* that record, but i respect your right to make millions off it. again. i did want to talk to you about the old days, though. remember back when the whole world loved pearl jam? i mean, it was like the one thing newt gingrich and tip o’neill could agree on: pj kicked #ss. and in addition to all that money that came with the fastest selling record of all-time, there was an enormous amount of public support and good will. and you decided to use that popularity not to win moonmen, but to take on a dastardly corporation that was despised as much as you were beloved. and that made me love you all the more. ticketmaster was (and still is) to the concert-going public what AIG today is to the american taxpayer. which is to say, the latter tries to f*ck the former up the #ss at every chance they get. and you and jeff and stone and mike and whoever your drummer was at the moment decided to fight back. instead of making gajillions more dollars by playing the game that ticketmaster had foisted upon artists, venues, and pierced-nosed punks everywhere, you tried to sue their pants off. we all knew they had essentially established a monopoly, but no one had legally proven it yet. and you took those sons-a-b*tches all the way to the capitol. 
and lost. and that made me love you all the more. except for the part where i was still getting #ssf*cked by ticketmaster. i put a ban on ticketmaster, and you went home to lick your wounds and reclaim your life. it’s been over ten years now; i’m still buying all my tickets directly from box offices and bands, and you’re still making the rock music. and ticketmaster is bigger and badder than ever. and they’re gonna get worse. and this is like the one thing jim derogatis and greg kot can agree on: ticketmaster and live nation merging is about the worst possible thing that could happen to people who care about rock music but do not have rock star salaries. and there are many of us. but we don’t have rock star microphones, either. you do. the boss stood up, but nobody stood with him. maybe because you lose your “everyman” credibility after playing at half-time. but you’ve still got your integrity intact. you can have a second chance at putting this perversity of the market in its place. jay-z, and nickelback, and neil diamond, and a whole mess of others are gonna fight you on this one. but they’re past their prime (nickelback?…), and you’ve got the people on your side. at least, the ones who aren’t already in the luxury boxes. we need you again, ed. we need you to fight the good fight, one more time. posting a message to your fans is a good start, but it’s nowhere near enough. you know what keith moon would do. he’d go f*ck some sh*t up. you’re only too old for this if you think you are. so let’s get to it.
your friend,
– jason
p.s. though i’ve seen you guys play well more than a dozen times, through a series of unfortunate events, my first pearl jam show wasn’t until the summer of ’97. which means the remixed version of “alive” from that re-release is better than any half-hearted version i’ve ever you sing live. so thanks for that.