Freedom Concert

Son John and I attended the Hannity Freedom Concert in San Diego last night. The concert was sponsored by the Freedom Alliance founded by Col. Oliver North, and its mission is to raise money to send the children of fallen US soldiers to college. In four years the Alliance has raised seven million dollars. This was the first time the Freedom Concert has been held on the West Coast.

Before the concert began, the Hannity & Colmes Show on Fox News was recorded live from the concert venue (the beautiful Coors Amphitheatre near San Diego). John and I had front row positions during the TV show and John took some great pictures. The one above shows Sean and Ollie interviewing a fellow who had been a Hezbollah captive back in 1984. I think Ollie was instrumental in his rescue.

Ann Coulter is a skinny cutie and very charming, accepting every marriage proposal. She declined, however, to run for president. She told Allen Colmes back in New York, thankfully, that the folks out here want her to strangle him. BIG cheers!!! Mark Levin is a riot; his baseball hat had “Clinton happens” written on it. Sean pointed it out to the TV audience. Tom Delay is a little guy in brand new blue jeans and nice western boots.

Sean and all the guests were totally focused when the cameras were rolling but totally at ease and friendly while the commercials were on. Sean even remembered the names of several in the audience who had met him at previous concerts. One couple came all the way from Montreal. The camaraderie among the fans was wonderful, one liberal joke after another. One guy (it might have been me) joked with Ollie about a Marine Colonel getting “made up” before he went on camera.

The concert started thirty minutes after the TV show with Tony Orlando singing “Tie a Yellow Ribbon.” It never sounded so good. He asked the WWII veterans to stand up (maybe 10), then the Korean War (30) then Vietnam (over a hundred) then the Gulf War and finally the current war. There was an outpouring of feeling toward these American heroes. Tony said we must never again treat our veterans like we did the Viet Nam vets.

Lee Greenwood, just back from his 28th USO tour, sang several songs and by then it was dark. He said the concert was being taped for the troops over seas and asked us to open up and wave our cell phones to show the troops our support. The arena was filled with the light from at least 12,000 cell phone screens.

Sean, Ollie, Ann, Tom, Mark and Rick Roberts (San Diego talk guy) took the stage and said how much they respect and love the US troops. You could tell they meant every word. Ollie introduced a widow and her two daughters who were going to college on Freedom Alliance scholarships. The standing ovation was long and heartfelt. Sean then introduced the special surprise, four US Marines in Iraq on the huge video screens. The Marines were so happy to be talking to us and for the opportunity to send their love to their families. The screens had running lines of text that allowed the audience to send messages to the troops in Iraq. John sent the message: “God bless Johnny Walton in Iraq. Go 82nd Airborne!” It ran across the screen several times.

The Charlie Daniels Band was amazing. Charlie does this challenge bit where he takes his fiddle to the piano player and plays a rip that sounds like a piano, the piano player plays it back, then on to the drummer and Charlie makes that fiddle sound like a drum and so on. It was just terrific. Sean joined the band for “The Devil Goes Down to Georgia” which was great even though Sean can’t sing a lick. Hank Williams Jr. rounded out the show. Do you want to play some foooootbaaaalllll?

Sean told the audience he will bring the show back to the West Coast next year. He will need a larger venue, maybe Angel’s Stadium. John and I will be there.