And staying with the New York Post, this is just an outrage-of-the-day type thing to stir the blood: Tom Morello, of the “rock supergroup” Audioslave, is interviewed in today’s paper and is asked about a recent trip to Cuba.

Q: What surprised you about Cuba?

A: I think most Americans view Cuba as a hostile police state, which we did not find to be the case at all. To shed some light on it, we played a free show in front of 70,000 Cubans for 2 1/2 hours. It went on without a hitch, an arrest, an incidence of violence or any police interaction with the crowd. Everybody had a good time.

A week later, we played a free show in our hometown on Hollywood Boulevard, in front of 10,000 fans – part of it was shown on the “Jimmy Kimmel” show – for about 45 minutes. There were 30 arrests, a riot, police were beating kids down.

It was very ironic that Hollywood Boulevard would be a more autocratic police state than Havana. Yet, both events are documented on video, so we have the proof. You can see the police smackdown in the video for “Your Time Has Come.”

Q: Did you as a band intend to make a political statement with the show?

A: The trip was billed as a cultural exchange, [but] certainly there are political implications. There is no longer a rock ‘n’ roll embargo against Cuba. The second we hit the stage that was over.

It was such a tremendous relief to be in a place where you do not have to see a Starbucks on every corner, a Paris Hilton billboard looming overhead or a grinning, pasty Col. Sanders leering down in every minimall.

Aside from the occasional Che Guevara billboard and graffiti extolling how well-immunized the people of Cuba are, there was very little of what you’re so used to when you’re touring in other countries. Were those experiences political? Of course they were.

Nice, huh?

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