Clearly no one running Guantanamo Bay is winning points for their humanity, but they’ve been using music as a method of torture and some bands are not going to take it. Apparently the song “March of the Pigs” by Nine Inch Nails was one of the tracks played repeatedly at loud decibels in an attempt to wear down prisoners so they’d give up information, which not only shows the disgusting character of some soldiers but also puts their bad taste in music on blast. (To be honest, definitely rocked that song repeatedly at loud decibels in seventh grade.) Today NIN, REM and Pearl Jam announced their support for the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo, and REM stated “We have spent the past 30 years supporting causes related to peace and justice. To now learn that some of our friends’ music may have been used as part of the torture tactics without their consent or knowledge is horrific. It’s anti-American, period.” And while we’re wondering if it really took finding out their friends’ music was being desecrated to officially oppose the prison—really dogs?—any proactive musicians using their celebrity to stand up for human rights deserve props. So, props dudes.

Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)

R.E.M.|MySpace Music Videos

That’s right, there shall be visual documentation of the R.E.M. live show. Although, This is Not A Show (Live at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, Ireland) proclaims it is not a show, the film, directed by French dude Vincent Moon, whose also directed films for the Arcade Fire and the National, captures R.E.M. playing “rehearsal shows” in front of an audience. But, remember, this is not a show! Shot in Moon’s distinctly blurry, one-eyed, “I really feel like I’m there” perspective, This is Not A Show will be shown in select theaters, clubs and other random venues across the country. Fortunately for long-time fans, the movie finds Stipe, Buck and Mills reaching all the way back to their debut, performing Chronic Town classic “Carnival of Sorts,” while performing a smattering of hits spanning their entire catalog. Check below for a screening in your town. There isn’t one?!?! Chill out man, you can suggest a show here. Yes, cabins, mess halls, barns and submarines are all considered apt places to view a film.

Screening Dates

10.14 Cambridge, MA @ IFF Boston at the Brattle – 9:30pm

10.16 Atlanta, GA @ The Plaza – 7:30pm

10.18 Asbury Park, NJ @ The ShowRoom – 9:00pm

10.22 Boise, ID@ The Egyptian

10.22 Columbus, OH @ The Drexel –8:00pm

10.23  New Haven, CT @ Criterion Cinemas

10.23  Tempe, AZ @ Madcap Theatres

10.23 Columbia, SC @ The Nickelodeon

10.23-24 Urbana-Champaign, IL@ Savoy 16

10.23-25 Seattle, WA @ Northwest Film Forum

10.24  Bloomington, IN @ The Ryder presents at IU Fine Arts Theatre

10.24  Montgomery, AL @ The Capri Theatre –9:00pm

10.26  Athens, GA @ Hotel Indigo (R.E.M. has arranged an event)

10.27  New York, NY @ Cinema Purgatorio at the Kraine Theatre

10.27  Los Angeles, CA @ Downtown Independent

10.27 Burlington, VT @ UVM Davis Center –8:00pm

10.30 Anchorage, AK @ The Bear Tooth

11.01  Philadelphia, PA @ 941 Theater- 8:00pm

11.05  Dallas, TX @ Dallas Video Festival

I mean, if this doesn’t make you want to go all Gordy from “Stand By Me” and dance around in your room with your pup, showing off all your odds and ends and trinkets and tronkets, then I just don’t know what will. I really don’t.

R.E.M. has been kicking out music like mad lately. From the recent re-release of 1984’s Reckoning last week to a new digital EP entitled Reckoning Songs From the Olympia to a double-disc album R.E.M. Live at the Olympia, said to come out this fall, R.E.M. diehards will have lots to be giddy about. Reckoning Songs From the Olympia is simply that: a live recording of four songs performed at the Olympia Theatre in July of 2007. R.E.M. Live at the Olympia will be a more extensive version of Reckoning Songs From the Olympia and will include rehearsals and the testing of Accelerate material. Keep on the lookout for a follow-up to that comeback album in the near future. (via P4k)

—Meryl Natow