Four different items in this batch...
1) Rock, Rap and the Election - Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
In 1985, Rock & Rap Confidential produced the short film “I'll Vote On.” It documented the efforts of the FBI and local authorities in rural Alabama to jail civil rights leaders for getting out the vote. Most charges (for "vote fraud") were ultimately dropped. But the 2000 Presidential election, marked by the deliberate disenfranchisement of thousands of registered Florida voters, confirmed that the right to vote in America still cannot be taken for granted.
Today, spurred by the disaster that is the Bush administration, a growing number of musicians are working to get their fans to register to vote. They range from punkvoter.com--started by Fat Mike of NOFX--to the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, which kicked off a nationwide drive to register 4 million voters in 2004 with a star-studded event (P. Diddy, Beyonce, LL Cool J) in Houston during Super Bowl week.
As a tactic, this is fine to the degree that it brings more people into one aspect of the political process, creating a potential common activity for punks and professionals, b-boys and bohemians, headbangers and health care professionals. The problem is that registering to vote is being put forward by musicians as a strategy, as an action that can, by itself, somehow impact our rapidly disintegrating society.
The first fact to be faced is that the majority of Americans who are registered do not vote. As Tom Morello put it after the 2000 election, "If there were a candidate who was running, say, for a six-hour work day at full pay, you might get more people going to the polls."
Since we lack candidates running on anything remotely like such a platform, we wind up with the strategy put forward by John Mellencamp for 2004: "I'll support whoever the Democrats put forward." Ditto for Lou Reed: "We must all unite and work for whomever opposes Bush, regardless of whatever differences we may have. Our motto: Anything but Bush."
Read the rest at:
http://www.rockrap.com/new/prize.html
2) Bush administration blocks Cuban Grammy nominees
US authorities have refused to let five Cuban Grammy Awards nominees travel to Sunday's ceremony in Los Angeles.
Musicians up for best tropical Latin album award - including veteran star Ibrahim Ferrer - have not got visas.
Ferrer, 77, told press in the capital Havana: "I am not a terrorist. I couldn't be one. I am a musician."
A US diplomat in Havana said the US administration could suspend the entry of people deemed to be "detrimental to the interest of the United States".
Read the rest at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3464801.stm
3) Joan Jett Wants to Be a Howard Dean Delegate
As you may have read, Joan Jett is running as a candidate to be a convention delegate from New York. Joan is a staunch supporter for Governor Howard Dean. If you are a registered Democrat voter in Congressional District 4( Carolyn McCarthy's disctrict) or in NY State that wants to push Joan forward, call Jim McKague at 516-766-7874.
If you are not sure which district you live in, go to this web site, enter your address and it will let you know which district you live in. http://map01.elections.state.ny.us/b
Jett, 43, said she agrees with Dean's stance against the war in Iraq, though she is a champion of members of the U.S. military.
http://www.joanjett.com/news/0312news.htm
Last but not least, some slightly old news, released about two weeks before Wesley Clark dropped out of the presidentiail race…
4) George Jones goes political
On the Wesley Clark campaign website it was announced that country music legend George Jones has endorsed Clark's campaign.
"I have never done anything like this before, but I feel strongly about the direction this country is headed," said George Jones. "As a former Marine, I know that Wes Clark is the candidate that is best prepared to protect our country. Wes Clark is a plain talking leader, who comes from humble roots and shares the same values that we share here in Tennessee and across the South. Wes Clark will never forget where he's from, or who he's for."
Read the rest at:
http://clark04.com/press/release/230/