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| Barack 'N' Roll By Nathan Mattise for The New Times | October 15, 2008 The marriage of music and politics is nothing new; think MTV’s “Choose or Lose” campaign (around since 1992) or the many recent connections between political candidates and rockers. As if to demonstrate just how effective this trend has become, more than 600 people attended Barack the Block, an Oct. 3 concert at Thornden Park and sponsored by the collegiate political action committee Syracuse University Students for Barack Obama with the support of the Syracuse for Obama campaign. The rally featured four hours of live music from local acts, as well as informational pamphlets and the opportunity for voter registration, which encouraged 150 to sign up. “We wanted an event that might appeal to a wider range of people, not just politically active folks but people who want to see good bands,” said Sara Brainard, deputy director of SU Students for Obama. “The music didn’t have a political slant but getting people out there and exposing them to information was a great start for discussions about the campaign. I talked to some people who were on the fence and they started to lean {toward} Obama after getting to discuss it so much.” Brainard said finding musical acts willing to lend their talents to the cause wasn’t an issue. She even had to turn down a half-dozen other bands who volunteered to perform, although local acts like Sophistafunk and the fraternal deejay duo The Smash Brothers made the cut. “This is basically the first time that my brother and I have presented a political message during our show,” said Jacob Beier, half of the Smash Brothers. “We typically stray away from this type of activity and hope citizens will access more reliable avenues to get their news and political information. But considering how historic this election is, how high the stakes are and that we are originally Illinois boys ourselves, we decided to lend a hand to supporters of Senator Obama.” Similar Barack the Block events have been springing up across the country. Brainard actually thought the title for the SU concert was really creative—until she researched it and found other rallies sharing the name. Perhaps the widespread popularity of this type of event, with its showcase for diverse bands, is also a telling sign that so much about popular music and culture is now fragmented. “What constitutes a bigger national act is an antiquated notion,” declares pop-culture vulture Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at SU’s Newhouse School of Public Communications. “I asked 150 kids in one of my classes if we can find three or four artists that are on all of their iPods and we couldn’t find three or four songs. Someone in their 40s or 50s might see Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel or whoever, but trying to attract these young voters with one act is too hard. So one of the ways of doing it is franchising out the idea—do concert rallies in Syracuse, Rochester, Cleveland—in order to let these people know that this vote is part of their life and then convince them to vote for whoever sponsors their concerts.” Whether or not this tactic has an overall effect will be determined in November. Yet if a lineup of local acts can get 25 percent of a crowd energized and registered to vote, the importance of these concerts on a national scale could be invaluable. “I’m not sure if local bands will really have an effect on swaying people’s minds when it comes to the election, although it’s obvious that many people look up to famous musicians and they can definitely have an effect on potential voters,” said Tony Cacace, pianist for White After Labor Day, which also performed Oct. 3. “If a particular event is very successful and there is a lot of coverage and a lot of press, then people who are undecided may start wondering why all these people are attending. Then they may find out for themselves why a particular person is worth voting for.” |
Info about The New Times | Original Story
Related Links: Daily Orange coverage of the event Coverage of a similar Obama concert in NYC The Smash Brothers on MySpace Music White After Labor Day on MySpace Music
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