|
Bruce springsteen dixie chicks mellencamp sing against bush { August 5 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/08/05/Decision2004/Musicians_hope_to_roc.shtmlhttp://www.sptimes.com/2004/08/05/Decision2004/Musicians_hope_to_roc.shtml
Musicians hope to rock Bush from job
A group including Bruce Springsteen and the Dixie Chicks has organized the concerts, which come to Florida on Oct. 8.
By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
Published August 5, 2004
President Bush has ticked off the Boss.
And because of it, Bruce Springsteen and more than a dozen other big name rock and rollers will scatter across Florida on Oct.8 to perform and raise money to mobilize Democratic voters.
On that Friday night, less than a month before the election, R.E.M., the Dixie Chicks, Pearl Jam, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, the Dave Matthews Band and others will mix music and politics as part of a rock tour of hotly contested electoral states.
In the Vote for Change tour, the rockers will perform in nine states, including Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, in the week leading up to the final night, when the bands will perform all around Florida. The Dixie Chicks and James Taylor are scheduled to perform in the Tampa Bay area.
Proceeds from the tour go to America Coming Together, an independent group working in Florida and other states to turn out anti-Bush voters.
"We're trying to put forward a group of progressive ideals and change the administration in the White House," Springsteen told the Associated Press of his first foray into overtly partisan politics. "That's the success or failure, very clear cut and very simple."
This is not your standard rock tour. Along with music, concertgoers will get a heavy dose of political commentary and calls to action.
A "Paul Revere ride of rock and roll, sounding the emergency alarm for the most important election of our time," is how Eli Pariser, director of the liberal MoveOn political action committee, described it.
Tickets for the Florida concerts go on sale Aug.21 through Ticketmaster. Fans wanting an early shot at buying tickets can log onto the MoveOn Web site (www.moveon.org) MoveOn has a limited number of tickets it will randomly distribute to people who sign up. MoveOn promises those who sign up to then "help you use your time and energy to elect a new President and a progressive Congress."
Ticket buyers, whether through MoveOn or Ticketmaster, are effectively making a political contribution, which requires them to provide personal information, including their address and occupation. Last year, Jimmy Buffett backed out of a fundraising concert for then-presidential candidate Bob Graham because of concerns about requiring such personal information from fans.
The Vote for Change performers are not worried about it.
Venues and ticket prices have yet to be set, and organizers say other performers, including Sheryl Crow, might join the tour.
Mixing entertainment and campaigning can be politically risky, as John Kerry saw when a group of entertainers including Whoopi Goldberg served up raunchy and controversial statements about Bush. The president has repeatedly made light of Kerry calling the Hollywood entertainers the "heart and soul" of America.
"It's a reminder of how out of touch Sen. Kerry is with the heart and soul of America," Bush-Cheney spokesman Reed Dickens said of the entertainers supporting Kerry. "During wartime some of them were even attacking the president while overseas."
He referred to Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines telling a London audience she was embarrassed to come from the same state as Bush. The comment provoked a backlash against the band, and some of the performers involved in this tour acknowledge their partisanship might antagonize some fans.
"The outcome of this election is far more important even than my career. I'm willing to take that risk," said Mike Mills, bassist for R.E.M., the band tentatively scheduled to play with Springsteen in Orlando, along with John Fogerty and Bright Eyes.
Mills and Bonnie Raitt said in a telephone interview that they expected the performers would focus less on bashing Bush than on arguing that the country needs a change in direction and young people need to vote.
Still, sharp attacks on Bush may be inevitable.
"A vote for Bush is a vote for a divided, unstable, paranoid America," Dave Matthews said in a statement. "It is our duty to this beautiful land to let our voices be heard."
Raitt, with tour colleague Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, backed independent candidate Ralph Nader in 2000, but this year they are behind the Democratic nominee.
Bush has his own share of musicians backing him, including Jessica Simpson, Michael W. Smith, Travis Tritt, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, and the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, though no organized political tour is planned.
The night of the Florida concerts happens to be when the second presidential debate is scheduled. But the target audience of the rockers - young people who often don't bother voting - may not be the likeliest debate watchers anyway.
"There are a lot of voters who are particularly cynical about the voices of politicians, but will really pay attention to the voices of these artists," said ACT founder Ellen Malcolm.
Many of the performers have been actively and overtly political for years, though the biggest icon of the bunch, Springsteen, has generally avoided wading into specific elections.
"I felt like I couldn't have written the music I've written, and been on stage singing about the things that I've sung about for the last 25 years and not taken part in this election," Springsteen said in a statement.
When Ronald Reagan faced Walter Mondale in 1984, Springsteen publicly complained about Reagan invoking "New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen" during a campaign appearance.
Politicians of all stripes use Springsteen's music all the time. Wednesday morning, as nearly 1,000 Republicans in Sarasota waited to hear Arizona Sen. John McCain stump for the president's re-election, speakers blared Springsteen's hit, Born to Run.
Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Adam C. Smith can be reached at 727 893-8241 or adam@sptimes.com
THE LINEUP
Tentative schedule for Vote for Change tour in Florida on Oct.8:
TAMPA: Dixie Chicks, James Taylor
ORLANDO: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, R.E.M., John Fogerty, Bright Eyes
GAINESVILLE: Dave Matthews Band, Jurassic 5
JACKSONVILLE: Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt
KISSIMMEE: Pearl Jam, Death Cab for Cutie
MIAMI: John Mellencamp, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds
|
|
