Since Joan was going to play with Mellencamp, I doubt she’d have performed a long set of Childe ballads. She’s gone pretty far from being the barefoot, long-haired folky chick–although I do love the old stuff.
I saw her play, years ago. She was much funnier & warmer than I expected.
Well, who knows. I’m still stunned every time I think about Ronald Reagan using Springsteen’s Born in the USA as a political anthem.
I wonder if James Watt wound up with a job at Walter Reed?
Isn’t he the guy who said we didn’t have to worry about cutting down all the trees because the Rapture was coming?
I really like Joan Baez; but I don’t think there are any sinister political motives at work here. If her participation was announced on short notice, then that alone would be enough to cause the Army to disallow her. One thing I remember well about the Army was that they don’t do well at all with things on short notice, much less surprises.
Really? Think the Beach Boys could have played on short notice? I kinda think so.
But she wouldn’t have been booked as a solo artist. She recorded some duets with Mellencamp (remember when he was John “Cougar” Mellencamp 
) on a recent album, and that’s why he wanted her on stage with him.
If I had to guess, and if politics were involved, it’s probably a case of wanting someone to entertain, not preach, to the soldiers. Mellencamp, although a lefty and outspoken critic of the war, would probably be willing to just sing his songs and not make this a political event. Joan? Maybe, but maybe not.
BTW, I’ve always liked her stuff, and I’m far from being ready for a nursing home, thank-you-very-much. 
I love Joan Baez. I love her music and her stand against Vietnam and Iraq. I think she waffled in the article a bit, with the whole “I was mean to the Viet Vets so I’m making up for it with the Afgh Vets” thing. But still. She’s Joan Fucking Baez. If I were a soldier at Walter Reed, I’d be pissed.
He’s the guy who banned the (middle aged) Beach Boys (15+ years after their last real hit) from playing at a concert on the Washington Mall for being part of the “drug culture” (despite thir never having recorded a “drug” song*) and ordered Wayne Newton to be sought to replace them.
*(I suppose Barbara Ann might have been considered sort of druggy if we included alcohol impairment part “drug culture.”)
That makes me feel safe from surprise attacks.
And you would be an Army of One.
Is it supposed to be for the troops? Then get someone they care about. If she is doing it to help with her guilt then she can try somewhere else. This is a nonstory.
Trying to picture Joan Baez “connecting” with hospitalized soldiers at Walter Reed, I get this image of Spinal Tap performing “Sex Farm” at the military base party.
Or Rich Little doing “comedy” at the correspondents dinner. 
It’s the American way!
I think I speak for everyone in my age group, which probably includes almost all the wounded at Walter Reed, when I ask “Who the fuck is Joan Baez and why should I care?”
[…sobbing unconsolably…]
If some folks want to carry grudges against Ms. Baez from forty years ago (or demonstrate that they have never listened to her), that is fine, but the reality is that she is still a very good singer with a very wide repertoire. The idea that a guy stuck in a bed or rehab would not want to listen to her (while still choosing to listen to Mellencamp who is no more tuned in to the 20-year-old set than she is) is silly.
I really doubt that she was attempting to assuage any guilt; she simply accepted an offer to perform a free concert from another performer with whom she has worked in the past.
Don’t like her music or politics? Fine. But don’t invent reasons to jeer at her.
Actually, there’s a steady stream of entertainment and activities for the troops at Walter Reed and, for that matter, all the hospitals that handle the worst of the war wounded. My husband works at Walter Reed, and I hear regularly of everything from musicians to sports figures to trips to football games or hunting trips (one kid we know who lost a leg now has a deer rack proudly mounted on his wheelchair). There’s an endless variety of stuff of interest to the patients, no matter what their interests.
My feeling is that it was indeed a lack of notice problem. Arranging a visit does require all kinds of coordination with a variety of folks, and it’s hard to arrange on a last-minute basis. No one is allowed to visit the patients without an escort (even their commanding officers from the field) unless they’re family members, so it’s not like she could just walk in and say, “Me, too!”
I always liked Joan Baez; I’m shocked at how old she looks now, particularly since I am still young and pretty. Aren’t I?
But do you really represent the demographic of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed? How many decades older are you? These kids today want that hippity-hoppity crap, not real music like we had back in the 80s when I was in high school. The Ramones, the Clash, Blue Oyster Cult, Iron Maiden, now that was music! Not the noise they play nowadays!
Now get off my lawn!