Music creeps back into the political arena
History textbooks have left me with a mental picture of 19th century political campaigns that include massive rallies with theme songs, free-flowing beer, catchy slogans and un-amplified public oratory.
Aside from the beer, it's the live music in that mental image which captures my imagination the most. So it's with some interest that I got this email from singer/songwriter Dan Gonzalez:
And after that weird choice of a hair-metal theme song at the local Republican convention, it's easy to see how Democrats can open up a hipness gap with their taste-challenged rivals.
Aside from the beer, it's the live music in that mental image which captures my imagination the most. So it's with some interest that I got this email from singer/songwriter Dan Gonzalez:
On June 14, some of Massachusetts' best singer/songwriters (and even one from New York!) will perform to raise money for the Deval Patrick Campaign.There's a lot of evidence that Patrick "gets it", and the use of this kind of original live music in campaigns seems to be on the upswing as a whole. As far as I can tell, he's the only local candidate doing something like this. I think we'll see this happening more often as politicians look for more visceral ways to connect with people.
WHEN: Wednesday, June 14, 8-10pm
WHERE: Johnny D's, Davis Square, Somerville (www.johnnyds.com)
WHO: singer/songwriters Dan Gonzalez, Kate Klim, Rebecca Pronsky, and a very special musical guest
TICKETS: $25 minimum. Tickets can be purchased at:
https://secure.devalpatrick.com/page/concert
And after that weird choice of a hair-metal theme song at the local Republican convention, it's easy to see how Democrats can open up a hipness gap with their taste-challenged rivals.
posted by $!# at 5/02/2006 06:20:00 AM
2 Comments:
I dunno; I have these images stuck in my head from the 92 Presidential campaign -- the speakers blasting "You Can Call Me Al" at the Convention when Gore was added to the ticket, and then Bill Clinton playing sax on election night with Paul Simon. I've also got this image of the demonstrators in Tucson last month bursting into chants of ¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!. That's leaving aside the Dixie Chicks and Woodie Guthrie. Hasn't there always been music tightly-integrated with campaigns and political moments, at least at the national and grass-roots levels? (Aside, of course, from the Kerry campaign, which was as incompetent when it came to pop-culture tie-ins as they were with everything else.)
For the record, I would say Boston is more proto-hair-metal; the sound is the same as Jovi or Def Leppard, but those bands incorporated the T-Rex-based glam patina that Boston didn't really have.
In other words, Marc Bolan + Boston (or Cheap Trick) = Poison. Add in Black Sabbath and you've got Crue circa "Shout at the Devil." But I digress.
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