We may have tapped into the next big communication medium for the Democratic Party.
It's called music.
For decades people have made music using political themes and ideas as their reason for creating their art. Music has been, without a doubt, a unique means to get young adults to express feelings through dance, and in turn, express feelings through their inalienable right to vote.
Amanda and I had to opportunity to spend four days and four nights at the 10,000 Lakes Music Festival in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. Here was our chance to gather some excitement for Barack Obama and Senator Al Franken. I came prepared- I brought my 6 foot by 4 foot American flag (covered in Obama buttons), a couple Obama yard signs, and dozens more buttons to hand out including Deadheads for Obama, Obama for Peace, Tree huggers, GLBT for Obama, and Students for Obama.
In case you're not familiar with this festival, there's over 8,000 attendees, more than 60 bands playing on four stages, and an abundance of highly regarded organizations sponsoring the festival including:
Rock the Earth: "Defending our Planet one beat at a Time:" A not-for-profit public interest environmental advocacy organization committed to protecting and defending America's natural resources through partnerships with the music industry and the world-wide environmental community.
HeadCount: These guys are big! HeadCount is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization devoted to voter registration and participation in Democracy. Created in 2004 by a group of artists, music industry professionals, and fans, HeadCount is determined to make sure the live music community is well-represented at the polls. Throughout 2008, HC has a goal of registering 200,000 new voters this year. www.headcount.org.
VEGA Productions: A 501c3 non-profit organization on a mission to enhance music and art through education in Minnesota. Provides funding for schools that have been forced to eliminate or reduce music and art education from their curriculum because of budget cuts.
Stonyfield Farm Organic Foods: Free samples of organic foods.
We B Green: From a grant from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, these guys provided every car coming into the festival a large bag for trash, one for aluminum cans and plastics, and one for paper, glass, and cardboard. (After the festival, 8,000 festival goers did a good job of cleaning up after themselves.)
Equal Exchange: "Power to the Farmers" A worker owned coop that has pioneered fair trade in coffee for over 20 years. Equal Exchange continues to find new and powerful ways to build a better food system. Products include fairly traded and organic coffee, tea, chocolate and snacks from farmers all over the world.
Can you think of a better environment to meet like minded people and spread a message via word of mouth? I got to work as soon as we set up our campsite. I put the flag up on our car facing the pathway at the campsite and people were constantly stopping to buy a button off the flag or at least talk to us about Obama. I met people from all over! Our friendly neighbors were from Maine and Connecticut. I met fellow Obama supporters from Texas, Iowa, Kansas, California, both Dakotas, Michigan, Illinois, Colorado, and of course, many from Nebraska. I even met guy with a "Nebraskans for Peace" t shirt on who serves in the Lancaster County Election committee.
I made it my point to bring the buttons to the concert arenas and give them to the artists/fans.
The first artist I wanted to see was a well known group called Michael Franti & Spearhead. Michael Franti is a VERY political artist who focuses his music on environmentalism, peace, prison reform, and drug law reform. I threw an Obama button on stage while he was singing. He picked it up and smiled while pointing at me. He usually walks into the audience after his show to shake hands with fans and I was able to get his attention for a moment while holding his arm. I told him,
"I know they say this every year, but 2008 is the year we need to prove that our generation can generate serious change worldwide. This is your audience- make sure they vote!"
George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic also headlined and chanted "Obama! Obama!" during one of their songs.
Wookiefoot took a break in their set to warn their listeners of the serious implications of their decision in November and told the audience to vote.
The Flaming Lips mourned the deaths of American soldiers killed in Iraq and played a version of taps in grieve for this loss.
The last night Phil Lesh played a 3 and a half hour long set and I got an idea. Phil's a HUGE Obama supporter, so I took my flag into the concert bowl and threw Deadhead pins on the stage for Phil. People asked me about my flag, one person even wanted to buy it, but I just invited them all back to our concert after the show for an Obama party. By this time I had already told the folks at Headcount to direct any obvious Obama supporters to our site too. I came up with almost 200 buttons and ended up running out by the time we left.
I met many Obama supporters at the party, which was more of a march from campsite to campsite. It was a raging success! I guess the moral of the story is, in this election, utilizing the young voters will be a must, and it needs to be done in less conventional ways, like casual organizing at places like this. Headcount has already learned this and is nonpartisan, but is inadvertently helping build the Democratic Party's base for decades to come.
Headcount released a DVD called "A Call to Action" featuring Dave Matthews, The Allman Brothers, Bob Wier, Michael Franti, and others. I highly recommend seeing it. They also passed out a voting guide called "This aint your Daddy's Election" which is definitely aimed toward young adults and features more artists.
Check out the photos here: http://www.newnebraska.net/...