Dubya can't hear the Music

JoseCuervo

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But I thought Dubya was the great Uniter and a great leader..... Just who is following him???

Jun. 27, 2004 12:00 AM

Although artists from Bruce Springsteen to Pearl Jam to Sammy Davis Jr. have taken stands across the political spectrum over the years, the overheated 2004 presidential race has galvanized liberal musicians as never before.

A perfect political storm of war in Iraq, a volatile economy and a tight White House contest has motivated left-leaning performers to collaborate at a level that hasn't been seen since Bob Dylan and Crosby, Stills Nash & Young took on the Vietnam War and conservatives in the 1960s.

President Bush's national and global policies have so enraged the left that hundreds of artists have cast aside differences in musical tastes and organizing styles to join the anti-Bush effort.

Helping to lead the liberal charge are punk rockers, who in decades past often have avoided the political process.

"He's (Bush) divided the country, but he's united the Democrats more than anyone in history," says Mike Burkett of NOFX, which visits Peoria on Wednesday with the punk-flavored Vans Warped Tour.

Burkett is passionately trumpeting his cause on CDs, DVDs and the Internet, as well as at his band's shows. He has recruited more than 100 bands, including Mesa-based Authority Zero (also a Warped Tour act), to get the word out both onstage and during meet-and-greets with young fans.

He created Punkvoter, a group claiming to have registered 50,000 voters on its Web site (www.punkvoter.com) since Bush's controversial 2000 victory over Democrat Al Gore, and organized this year's Rock Against Bush tour. A CD-DVD compilation by the same name, featuring Authority Zero, Ministry, Pennywise, Anti-Flag and 23 other popular punk bands, sold so well that Burkett is assembling Volume 2.

Authority Zero singer Jason DeVore says he was glad to join Burkett, whose NOFX is an idol of the rising Valley band.

"Bush has been lying to the public since the beginning. . . . Things just don't seem right with him," says DeVore, whose group has an anti-war song called A Thousand Year War on its new CD, Andiamo, due Tuesday.

The effort to connect with this new generation of punk rockers is working, says another Warped Tour musician, Joe Principe of Rise Against: "The closer the election comes, it seems the kids are more aware."

The push to oust the president also has drawn support from plenty of non-punk musicians.

A fiercely anti-Bush speech by Gore in May is posted prominently on the Web site of Bruce Springsteen (www .brucespringsteen.net). The rock superstar calls Gore's remarks "one of the most important speeches I've heard in a long time."

Bob Weir of the Dead gave a short speech of his own, urging 10,000 concertgoers to register to vote at on-site tables, when surviving members of the legendary Grateful Dead performed Tuesday in Phoenix.

Weir's speech veered from a band policy of "music only" onstage. "This time, the circumstances are a bit more dire," Weir says. "We mean business here. We want to get people registered and voting."

The summer tours by the Dead and Warped are expected to attract 1 million potential voters.

As the liberal registration effort builds, Bush's supporters in the music industry also are using the Internet and other creative techniques to get their message out. But the scope of the GOP effort seems much smaller.

A right-leaning agenda is laid out on the www.conser vativepunk.com Web site, formed in January to "educate, inform and increase the little-known demographic of the conservative punk," according to an introduction written by Nick Rizzuto, who works for a New York radio station.

The site contains links to 18 bands and record labels, as well as articles that challenge many of Punkvoter's claims. Rizzuto did not return phone calls seeking details.

Classic rocker Ted Nugent and country fiddler Charlie Daniels also champion the conservative cause on their Web sites - www.tednugent.com and www.charliedaniels.com - which are brimming with patriotic images and challenges to Bush's Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry.

Nugent, a gun and hunting enthusiast, railed against Kerry in an April speech at the National Rifle Association's annual convention.

The Republican National Committee has sent an 18-wheel truck dubbed "Reggie the Registration Rig" to college campuses and sporting events to sign up voters.

However, a March visit by Reggie to the set of MTV's Total Request Live in New York City reportedly received a cool reception from young music fans.

A call to two national offices of the Bush campaign last week hinted that musical support for the president may be harder to come by than it was in 2000, when such artists as Hank Williams Jr., Ricky Martin and Michael W. Smith performed at GOP events. Leonardo Alcivar, press secretary for the GOP convention, which opens Aug. 30 in New York, mentioned that the Christian rock band Third Day has supported the president but added that he was unable to release any more names of pro-Bush musicians.

The president's critics are even stealing the spotlight in Nashville, historically a bastion of GOP support.

The Music Row Democrats, founded by four Nashville music executives, have publicized their cause by holding weekly karaoke nights attended by such stars as Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell.

"We were getting a little frustrated (that) a lot of people in the media assumed that, if you were working in country music, you were either a conservative or a Republican," says co-founder Bob Titley, whose TBA Entertainment manages Brooks & Dunn and Terri Clark.

"Our feeling was that we didn't like the way things are headed with politics in this country and that our community needed to step up to the plate."

With popular music a major interest in the lives of millions young people who potentially could sway the election, voter registration is the centerpiece of music artists' political efforts, both partisan and non-partisan.

"We're looking at the next five months as (a time of) unprecedented organizing and attention," says Jehmu Greene, president of the non-partisan Rock the Vote, whose registration bus is visiting the National Council of La Raza's conference, a gathering of Hispanic activists, today at Phoenix Civic Plaza.

"There is everything from very hard-core partisan work to very non-partisan work, and there really is a place for every artist on every part of the fence," says Jenny Toomey of Air Traffic Control, a group coordinating efforts by performers with progressive political views.

The summer tour by the Dave Matthews Band, popular with college-age fans whose political beliefs are still solidifying, is welcoming three organizations: Head Count, a grass-roots group targeting jam-band fans; Declare Yourself, which also stages its own concerts on college campuses; and Rock the Vote, which has enjoyed major backing by MTV since its creation in 1990.

The three groups bill themselves as non-partisan, but liberal acts such as Matthews, Phish and the Dead are betting that most fans registering at their shows will share their political views.

With both parties' conventions nearing (the Democrats convene July 26 in Boston), voter registration and politicking tied into the music industry are sure to rev up even more.

Head Count's co-chairman, Andy Bernstein, and Rock the Vote's Greene say most music fans can expect to hear some type of political pitch before Election Day:

"By Nov. 2, I think every young person in America is going to be exposed to a message about voting," Bernstein says.

"And in the end, they'll have to make their own decision."
 
ElkGunner , "Just who is following him ???"
Hopefully not "Anti-Flag" , "Authority Zero" or any other "Warped" drugged out punks .
There's plenty of room in Kerry's camp for those losers .
 
Tom,

That is pretty funny who the GOP was claiming supports Dubya.... :D
Third Day, the Grammy award-winning Christian rock band, has endorsed Bush's campaign, and has participated in GOP online chats and news conferences with Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie.
Backing Bush are Christian acts like Third Day and vocalist Michael W. Smith, while country artists like Travis Tritt, Larry Gatlin, and Billy Ray Cyrus have performed at campaign events.
Yeppers, Larry Gatlin and Billy Ray will certainly be delivering the votes to Dubya.... And that's what we need for the Soundtrack of our nation, Third Day celebrating Dubya's Devotion... :rolleyes:

Look at the names supporting Kerry. I think you will see access to a much larger swath of America. This is just one more example of how Dubya isn't much of a Leader or Uniter...
 
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