THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 4, 1995 TAG: 9503040041
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
TO A GUY WHO toured for two years with the quintessentially hip Grateful Dead, the question seems almost silly.
Indeed, Bruce Hornsby laughs when asked if he supports the conservative political sway these days that environmentalism has gone too far and needs relaxing.
``No, man, I'm not there,'' Hornsby said between chuckles during a phone interview last week from his Williamsburg home. ``I'm not with them - although I will say I'm someone who feels there's a middle ground on these issues.''
Virginia's most celebrated musician is back in the green spotlight, agreeing to perform a solo benefit concert this spring in Norfolk for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Hornsby, a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, has helped the foundation before. Long a member of the Annapolis-based foundation, Hornsby dedicated royalties to the group from his 1988 eco-ballad ``Look Out Any Window,'' a song about the plight of watermen amid declining fish stocks in the Bay.
The May 6 concert at Harrison Opera House will come on the heels of the 25th anniversary of Earth Day, and foundation officials are tickled that a marquee musician is lending muscle to an event that, given the conservative tide, threatens to lose its broad appeal.
``We're so excited,'' gushed Jennifer Rupert, a foundation organizer in Annapolis. ``We're renting a bus ourselves and coming down to see him.''
The concert is expected to raise an estimated $50,000, which will help the ``Save The Bay'' group continue environmental and educational programs at its offices in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.
While Hornsby is not especially concerned where the money goes, he suggested that one issue in desperate need of attention is ``finding some middle road'' between commercial fishermen and environmental groups worried that crabs, oysters and other Bay species are being overharvested into oblivion.
``It strikes me that overfishing is a problem,'' he said. ``But how do you protect the fish without hurting the watermen? Really, I don't see an easy solution. But maybe we could set up a fund or something to help these people through the tough times.''
That idea has been floated by watermen before, only to be quickly rejected. Several Virginia watermen have argued that, like farmers paid by the government not to plant certain crops, they too should be compensated for the hardships that government-imposed restrictions have brought their industry.
The state of Maryland instituted a scaled-down version of this plan in the late 1980s when a ban on catching rockfish was in effect. Maryland would hire watermen to taxi scientists on research trips while rockfish stocks rebounded.
Hornsby said the fisheries conflict tears at him because, while he considers himself a conservationist, he also remembers the good life his grandfather led as a waterman.
His benefit song, ``Look Out Any Window,'' describes the conflict this way:
There's a man working on a boat/Pulling lines from the water/ just trying to stay afloat/Filling the nets is getting harder/Far away they bend the rules so secretly/ Close their eyes and let it all out into the sea/Hoping nobody else would see.
``I sort of think both sides are right,'' Hornsby said. ``It's like the timbering debate in the (Pacific) Northwest. You've got all those jobs, those lumbering jobs, and the spotted owl to protect. There's just got to be something in the middle for everyone.''
He also believes these tough-to-settle issues are what environmentalists should focus on, instead of the ``real obvious stuff,'' such as toxics and chemicals.
Hornsby admits his knowledge of environmental subjects ``is not the greatest,'' adding that: ``I'm not a scientist; I'm like a lot of people, relying on what I read and see on TV. But it doesn't take too much to know we've got to be concerned about these things. That's pretty easy for me.''
The musician has consistently donated time and his name for social causes. He has performed benefits for financially strapped symphony orchestras, volunteered for the Virginia Special Olympics and donated proceeds from songs and T-shirts to environmental groups such as Greenpeace and Ocean Trust.
But Hornsby never takes the radical approach. His activism is measured and reasoned. Getting arrested or shouting slogans on stage is not his way of contributing to the cause.
There is subtlety to his demonstrations. Take the title of his new album, expected to be released soon: ``Hothouse.''
It comes from a song titled ``Hothouse Ball,'' which Hornsby wrote about living near Virginia Power's nuclear plant in Surry. He doesn't advocate shutting the plant down, but wants people to recognize its presence and potential risks.
``It strikes me the bay foundation is that way, too,'' Hornsby said. ``There's something practical with them that I like. They're looking for a middle ground, too.'' ILLUSTRATION: MORE INFO
Tickets for the May 6 benefit concert go on sale today through
TicketMaster, for $20 and $25. Gold and silver seats are available
through the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Norfolk, at 622-1964.
Silver seats are $75. Gold seats, which are $100, get buyers into a
reception with Hornsby after the show.
by CNB