For nearly three months, Marilyn Manson's scheduled appearance at the Ferrara Summer Festival was discussed less as a concert than as a cultural battleground. What began in April with an offhand remark by Mayor Alan Fabbri during a radio interview quickly grew into one of Italy's most unusual public controversies, drawing in city officials, the Archdiocese of Ferrara-Comacchio, the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, politicians, journalists, and commentators across the country. By the time July 11 arrived, the debate had become as much about religion, politics, and artistic freedom as it was about music. Yet when the evening finally came, something unexpected happened. The controversy largely disappeared. Instead of headlines dominated by protests or confrontation, Ferrara witnessed exactly what the city had spent months preparing for: a successful Marilyn Manson concert in the historic setting of Piazza Ariostea before 20,000 enthusiastic fans. The performance, part of...
Someone recently wrote me and said to me that there is no possible motivating factor for Evan Rachel Wood to target Marilyn Manson, and they argued this on the basis that she is a successful actress who is in no need of money or fame. After I explained that there are other factors, probably more powerful, besides money or fame for someone to target another person in order to destroy them, I was challenged to name just one. I replied that I have already made a private list of possible motivating factors, and they number 64 as of right now, but since I didn't want to burden anyone with the details of 64 possible motivating factors, I would narrow them down to 10, all of which I believe are highly probable factors why Evan Rachel Wood has targeted Marilyn Manson, and not one of them has anything to do with money or fame, though I do consider those two as possible motivating factors of a secondary nature. As time goes on and our knowledge of this case grows, I may modify this ...