By the way, I have tremendous respect for Ani DiFranco and I admire the fact that she wouldn't perform on Letterman. She is an inspiration to musicians to stick up for their own vision. I play her music and will continue to play her music, and I will defend the RIGHT to be able to play her music. I use the word "RIGHT" instead of "obligation".

However, as my previous posts have alluded - I don't find fault with the Letterman production group decision. They have every right to program the show they way they see fit.

Another factor that hasn't been mentioned - the Letterman show falls in the domain of Entertainment programming. There are specific rules and regulations for public affairs and news programs. Letterman did not violate any of them.

To me it seemed like a bad fit from the start. Let's admit it - Ani's reasons for appearing on a show had to be commercial to begin with - selling records or concert appearances - or herself. She chose to appear in the first place, knowing what kind of program it is.

Yes, it would have been great to see an artist like Ani give the Letterman audience a wakeup call - but in reality the normal Letterman audience probably would have chosen that moment to go to the refrigerator and open another Budweiser as soon as they heard the topic of the song. The Letterman audience is more interested in watching stupid human tricks instead of stopping the tricks of stupid humans.

Ani can appear on my radio show at any time and sing whaterver she wants!

Ron Olesko