The prerogatives of a good rocker

On December 30th, 2004, the Argentinean rock band “Callejeros” gave a show in the pub “Cromañon” in Buenos Aires. As a result of the use of sparklers by the fans, the show ended up in a fire that killed 193 people. The place was crowded beyond its capacity. The success shocked the Argentinean society. From that night on the families of the victims began claiming for a proper investigation.

But four months after what happened, what most caught my attention was the indulgence towards the band in the media. In a tragic event in which they had a huge responsibility few were the ones who dared to accuse them explicitly –even when his manager and their security chief are processed by the criminal justice system.

In their contact with the press after the tragedy they tried to convince us from their innocence with two kinds of arguments. The cynic and childish on one side, such as “I play the drums, with the band we make music, the rest doesn’t matter” said by Eduardo Vazquez to La Nación. And the morbid one on the other, “I had a life till December 30, I loved a person (in reference to his girlfriend who died in the incident) and I’m not going to see her anymore”, said by singer Pato Fontanet to the journalist Nelson Castro. As if the death of their love ones could exculpate them from any responsibility,

They want us to believe they didn’t have the duty to take care of security because they are artists, “rockers” more precisely. A social status that offers them the prerogative of being main contributors of culture, but at the same time exempts them from the responsibility of their acts.

They believe they have license to be careless and sloppy because they are artists. They also think that it’s not the role of creative people to take care of a show’s security, even in the case that such violence is generated. After all they can always blame the system, political corruption, etc. Who is going to object noble explanations like these?

Four months after the fire a sign hangs in Callejeros´ web site (www.callejeros.com.ar) that says: “Happiness is never just”. What does this phrase mean? I don’t know, surely neither do they. But they must believe that sounds intelligent, clever. That is all they have to say, and it is not too consistent. But who is going to ask them for consistency, they are artists… Autor: Babu
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