SAY WHAT YOU WANT ABOUT ROB THOMAS, BUT HE PUTS HIS MONEY WHERE HIS MOUTH IS

A lot of people hate on Rob Thomas and matchbox twenty. I don't: I'm not a huge fan, but they have some good songs. I like that song "Disease," and also "Unwell," I like the song Rob did with Santana, "Smooth." I've interviewed Rob and he was always cool. But what I like about him most is the fact that he and his wife, Marisol, spend not just money but also time on helping animals and people in need. They established the Sidewalk Angels Foundation to help both people and animals (it's rare for a charity to concentrate on both), and they both donated time at the now-defunct Pets Alive animal shelter in upstate New York (defunct because the woman who ran it died last month - happily, a Utah organization Best Friends Animal Society has swooped in to help the animals that were living at Pets Alive - read about that here).

Anyway, recently an organization called SHARK educated matchbox twenty about the cruelty that rodeos profit from, and Rob and the band pulled out of some rodeo concert. SHARK convinced Carrie Underwood to pull out as well. Now SHARK is being sued by said festival. Well, Rob obviously cares a lot about animals, and I give him credit for publicly admitting his mistake in (at first) agreeing to play the rodeo. He's walking it like he talks it, and how can you not respect that.