Quebec City, QC

I just got an email from our UK publicist asking if I want to interview Steve Ignorant from Crass for the magazine Big Cheese. How fucking cool is that!!!!! What questions should I ask him?

Today's show is a festival in Quebec, which means we're just sitting here in the bus under an overpass. It's kind of grey and chilly outside, looks like it's gonna rain at some point and it doesn't really look like there's anything around here worth walking to. I may explore later though.

I've been watching a bunch of the footage on CNN from all the controversy over Terry Jones' upcoming book burning in Gainesville. Have you seen all the fuss? I gotta say, I think that the right to burn the books should be defended, I think it's distasteful for sure and that the church people planning it are most certainly ugly people, book burnings are crass (get it?), archaic, but I'm out here on the road every night singing songs about smashing crosses. There's no real difference between wanting to smash a cross and wanting to burn a book, one is just more passive, the other more interactive.

I think that the kind of religious fanatic that would kill another person or multiple people over the burning of a book or in the name of a god is way more disgusting than the kind of religious fanatic that would burn a book. Ultimately I condemn both sides of the argument, I hold no respect for either parties involved, just the innocent bystanders who don't give a fuck about holy wars and don't want it effecting their community. But you can fear the intent and devotion behind someone waging a jihad. Burning a book is just cowardly, in fact it's the act of someone who's attention starved and most certainly vain. This bible thumper in Florida is nothing more than a used car salesman, a fucking ego, but he did pay for those books, they're his, he made his contribution to the religion financially he should be free to do what he wants with them. I think it's far more important to focus on defending freedom of expression and freedom of speech than to live in fear of people who would kill for a god. No book is more valuable than a human life.

Really the most sad figures in the picture are the flocks on each side of the divide, the followers. The fucking sheep. How terrifying would it have been to be a fly on the wall in that tin roof church when the Pastor Terry Jones announced his idea to his congregation. How frightening the faces must have been to witness as they grasped the idea, warmed to it and then embraced it. I wonder if any of them have been to a book burning before or if this will be all of their first. What is proper attire for a book burning? Casual? It's gonna be hot and humid out, are shorts okay? Does the Pastor Terry Jones actually light the fire himself? Do you clap once it's really burning? How does it end? Will songs be sung? How did they factor how many copies of the book where needed for proper dramatic effect? Are the copies of the book being burned American made or imported? Are there any bible burnings planned to coincide? Someone should coordinate one of those album smashing parties too, you know where they bring in a steam roller and run over a bunch of Beatles and Elvis records, just for the fuck of it. Are there going to be refreshments? Is any book burning merchandise going to be available for sale? Is seating general admission or is there anyway to have guaranteed front row spots? Has Terry Jones ever actually read the book he's gonna burn?