[UPDATE BELOW]

Belyin pointed me to this exchange regarding Dr. John’s pro-wetland/anti-Shell email and video. It’s fascinating but sad to watch the catalogue of responses to the awkward problem Threadheads face as an artist they love calls out the sponsor of the festival they love. What to do? Some question the tactics, some question Dr. John’s ethics, some wonder if Shell’s side of the story is being properly represented, some wonder if Mac’s words are really Mac’s, and some figure the problem’s just too big or complicated. If there’s a way to dismiss what Dr. John said, then there is no problem.

Interestingly, no one questioned the possibility that Jazz Fest might have still existed in 2006 without Shell, and that it didn’t save Jazz Fest. Maybe what it did was improve the profitability of the festival. Without Shell, the 2006 might still have gone on – not in the form it did, and likely without a Bruce Springsteen, but it’s curious that Dr. John and the critics of the oil companies’ roles in damaging our wetlands are subject to scrutiny, but the words of festival organizers are accepted without question. Maybe Jazz Fest couldn’t have continued without Shell, but the instinctive defense of the festival and its sponsors isn’t good for anybody but the festival and its sponsors.

Update: 2:35 p.m. – Aaron Viles, campaign director for the Gulf Restoration Network answers some Threadhead questions here.