Dem
47
GOP
53
What if you gave a concert and nobody came? That is a question we apparently will not learn the answer to in July. Yesterday, Donald Trump officially announced that the whole slate of Freedom 250 concerts has been scrapped, and that they will be replaced by a rally with him as the headliner. God Bless America.
Maybe the problem was that people just don't want to go to concerts these days. Alternatively, maybe there just aren't enough people out there who want to see tired acts performing in service of a wannabe dictator. Hm, is there any way to figure out which it might be? Why, yes, there might just be an answer. We give you: The Power to the People Festival, which will be staged on October 3, in Columbia, MD.
We'll let the concert organizers explain what the event is about. From the press release announcing the show:
Power To The People is a celebration of peace, love, justice, music and community action. Curated by Tom Morello, this one-day event at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD is about the power everyday human beings have when they come together—through music, art, community and action—to shape our country and our planet on, and beyond, Election Day.
Expect an extraordinary lineup of artists and activists delivering intimate, collaborative performances across two stages, plus the Freedom Village—an immersive space where nonprofits and community partners highlight ways to get involved through civic engagement, grassroots organizing and mutual aid. A portion of the proceeds from all ticket sales plus 100% of the net proceeds from VIP tickets will be donated to VoteRiders—a pro-democracy, pro-voter organization working to restore and strengthen democracy by eliminating confusing and restrictive ID-related barriers to the ballot box—and HeadCount who will also be on site to help fans register to vote and learn more about how to participate in upcoming elections.
Those who know their hard rock are presumably most familiar with Morello due to his work as a founder and member of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave.
The organizers were not kidding when they said they had an "extraordinary lineup" of artists on tap. The headliners are Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Joan Baez, Public Enemy and Morello himself. There are approximately six artists on that list of six that we would much rather see than Flo Rida or Vanilla Ice. Among the second-stage acts are Jack Black, Dropkick Murphys, Cypress Hill, Serj Tankian, the Linda Lindas and Daryl "DMC" McDaniels.
In short, between the various activities planned, and the music on tap, this is our kind of show. If we lived in Maryland, we would be ordering tickets at this very moment. Well, except for one small problem: The show sold out in less than 15 minutes once they were made available to the general public.
This is something of a companion to this week's "schadenfreude," a different example of the system working. It would seem there are quite a few people interested in democracy and civic engagement, and in pushing back against creeping fascism. That is a hopeful sign.
Have a good weekend, all! (Z)