What do Jello Biafra, Bonnie Raitt, Flea, Mike Watt, Killer Mike, Scarface, and Danny DeVito have in common? Aside from “fuck all”, the answer is Bernie Sanders. I’m not going to pass any judgment on any of you if you don’t know a few names on this list. There’s more. A lot more. And they matter in ways that music geeks will get. That’s not the point. There’s a shit ton of names not on this list that would fly by my head faster than the GOP would vote down sensible gun laws hours after a mass shooting. That ain’t the point of this. I’ll get to the point of this, but you should probably crack a beer and put on your favorite musician that spoke truth to power even when that shit made them ostracized by the power structure or Establishment. Does everyone have Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, John Prine, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Iggy and the Stooges, Kris Kristofferson, Keith Sykes, Sex Pistols, Bad Religion, The Clash, The Grateful Dead, Afrika Bambaatta, KRS One, Public Enemy, NWA, Common, William Elliott Whitmore, Todd Snider, or the Dead Kennedys cued up? Cool. Let’s examine music in politics.
The generation that came before me had a profound impact in politics for myriad reasons. Music and art were part of the core of this impact. No one can deny this, and if they do, their walls are covered in Ronald Reagan posters that un-ironically depict him as a saint. When someone writes a song, they’re putting a chunk of their soul out into the ether to be judged. Sometimes you get “The Times They Are A Changing” or “Sam Stone", and sometimes you get “Everybody Wang Chung” or “Dirt Road Anthem”. Musical tastes are subjective, and more often than not, exposure of a decent tune is monetary or ad-driven. Selah. That’s not what I came to talk to you about. I want to talk about the character of a man who believes in people, and art, and music. The kind of guy that big label execs hate when he shows up talking about an artist. The kind of guy only other artists like. The kind of guy that, if given a chance, can alter the course of musicians everywhere.
I’ve never met Paul Blest. I’d wager that a good chunk of you haven’t either. He’s a writer with some wisdom to drop, though, and his entire article is worth the read. True to form, old form, at least, I’ll present some snippets and encourage you to form your own opinions based on what you have read. The only thing I’ll ask of you is to ask yourself, “Is this the kind of person I would support through a primary and general election?” Because, after all, that’s the fucking multi-billion dollar question. And feel free to stop me if this doesn't sound correlative or familiar.
It isn’t a household name like the now-defunct CBGB in New York City, and it doesn’t get a spot in the punk rock history books like 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley. But 242 Main Street is special in it’s own way: Nearly 30 years after opening its doors, it is now one of the longest running music venues in the country, beginning as on offbeat city ban on live music that resulted in the transformation of an old administrative building into the municipal youth center that exists to this day
The city of Burlington, VT was largely a reflection of America in1981in that no one really thought the kids were alright. They had this new mayor, though, and with the encouragement of a woman called Jane O’Meara, who would later wed this mayor, had this incredibly in-fucking-sane notion that believing in the potential of their youth might make this one little bastion of free expression prosper. And it did.
"The impact 242 Main has had on Burlington music is incalculable," said Dan Bolles, a music editor for Vermont alt-weekly Seven Days, who wrote a retrospective of the venue back in January. "You would be hard pressed to find any rock musician who grew up in the area that hasn't logged time on that stage at some point... It's where most of us played our first shows and learned how to be in bands. Most of us eventually age out of 242 Main. But it's a cornerstone in the musical upbringing of local youth to this day."
Let me try to bring this back around to my original point. There are very few diarists, commenters, or lurkers that would deny the impact that music has in terms of the way our team (and it really is our team) relates to politics. Music has influenced and touched and reflected our lives in immeasurable ways. Bob Dylan said that “[I] sang nothing but these folk songs, and they gave me the code for everything that's fair game , that everything belongs to everyone”.
Ultimately, it ain’t up to me whether or not you make the connection in your own heart and soul between music and politics. It ain’t up to me if you choose to draw a parallel from the artists and songs that perhaps made you more aware back in the day. That’s not my gig. My gig is to tell you, during this primary, that all of the reasons that we all became politically active in the first fuckin place might well be attributed to the words, chords, and voices that activated our minds through a sometimes euphonious message. Or, to put a finer point on it,
When I asked why Burlington decided to start the youth center, in the face of what was considered common sense governing at the time, O'Meara Sanders was matter-of-fact. "It was something that the community of young people said that they wanted, needed, and were willing to take care of," she said. "They didn't ask us to give them anything—they asked us to provide the opportunity. Everyone was very well aware that they had to police it and make sure that there were no problems. For us, it was a belief that if kids feel that they're respected and needed and that they're a component of a greater good, then that's fantastic."
Bernie Sanders has a legacy of thinking that the kids are alright. That art and music matter. That train of thought has continued throughout his career. He leads by example and because of that, others are inspired. I know people that grew up playing at 242 Main St. These guys, for example. And Buddy Miller produced their last two albums.
I’m not asking you to be pragmatic. Pragmatism rears its hollow-eyed zombie head during the general. The Hillary crowd actually enjoys telling people that elections aren’t about getting what you want, and if you’re sick of being shit on, you should just run out and buy a fucking jacket. It’s the fucking Bataan Death March of the Soul. I think we still have some soul left to save.
I’m asking you to feel. I’m asking you to ask yourself, “What would my musical and literary heroes do right now?” Would the people that you revere for the uncomfortable messages they put forth support your decision? And if that doesn’t even fucking matter to you, would you support your own decision knowing that the easy road has been taken every fucking always by people you deride and mock on a daily basis? These are weird questions. I would love weird answers.
Above all, peace and love and well-placed elbows-
RR