Yesterday US Senator Barack Obama was elected to serve as the 44th President of the United States of America. Here are reactions to his election day victory from a few celebrity musician supporters, and an old Woody Guthrie song reworked by Billy Bragg and Wilco that’s been included as a way to poke a bit of fun at the notion of Obama as “Lord and Savior”.
“This will go down in history, in black history, for all of the sacrifices that the great Joseph Lowery and Martin Luther King made, this actually pays off for their sacrifice. … I’m speechless. I don’t even know what to say.”
“I felt like my vote was the vote that put him into office. … And that may not be true but that’s how much power it felt like I had.”
“My parents met working for [Obama's running mate on one of his early campaigns]. If it weren’t for Joe Biden, I would not exist as a human being. … I am proud to be a part of history in the making.”
“I’m so fucking happy right now”
“HI MOM, OBAMA WON!”
“This is a hugely significant day. I spoke to a friend who recalled that her grandfather was able to vote with great difficulty in his lifetime - he died only recently. There’s been discrimination and all kinds of obstacles placed in the way of African-Americans and to now see an African-American president is momentous. My friend was crying saying we are experiencing this moment in our lifetime.”
Listen: “Christ for President” by Billy Bragg & Wilco
Visit Barack Obama on MySpace.
BONUS: Prefix Mag election week special An Obama mixtape to celebrate
Like you really needed a reminder, but still, we had to say it: GO VOTE!
If you don’t want to listen to us, we’ve got friends (sort of, we’re on their email lists) in high places with convincing arguments. For example, David Byrne circulated this letter earlier this morning:
Pardon the bulk mailing. I Can’t Vote. I am an immigrant with a Green Card and, therefore, I am not eligible to vote in a federal election. FYI - I can get drafted (luckily, Daniel Berrigan burned my draft board’s records) and I pay taxes, yet I cannot vote for President. On Election Day, I see my neighbors heading to the nearby elementary school to cast their ballots. The voting booth joint is a great leveler; the whole neighborhood - rich, poor, old, young, decrepit and spunky - they all turn out in one day.
But most of you can vote. What can I say? The Republicans have made us less safe than before 9/11, bankrupted this economy, started an illegal war they can’t - and don’t intend to - finish, removed what sympathy (after 9/11) and respect the world had for the US, and have robbed US citizens of many of their basic rights. Global warming? What’s that? Science and education? Investment in our future? No, thanks - we’ll stick with a good ‘ole hockey mom. Ignorant, and fucking proud of it, as is always the case.
Although it looks like a shoo-in, it ain’t over ’til Florida. And there are plenty of racists in this country who will vote against their own best interests. So please, get to your local elementary school, post office, town hall, or whatever, and cast your vote and make this a country we can all be proud of. We can get out of this mess, and life can be better than it is.
David Byrne
NYC
And Trent Reznor sent out his own call to arms this Sunday:
Next Tuesday we will elect the next President of the United States. The result will have great consequences for the nation.
This election offers a choice is between two men with dramatically different visions of the future. We have strong feelings about this choice. But we feel even more strongly that all Americans, regardless of political preference, have a stake in the outcome and should vote in this critical election.
This is likely to be a close election. Your vote matters. Please use it and make a difference.
Sincerely,
Trent Reznor
Factor in Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, and Ben & Jerry’s all hooking you up with free treats for your efforts and suddenly the long lines don’t seem so daunting….whatever your inclination or situation, just get out and vote.
Topical song alert….
Listen:
Sunset Rubdown - “They Took a Vote and Said No”
above photo found HERE
When we first heard that The Beatles, MTV Games, and Harmonix are officially teaming up to create an all-new videogame based on the music of the Beatles, well Read more…
EAR FARM’s Three for Free: three EF approved, free and legal MP3s posted whenever the mood strikes us. Today’s songs come to us from Bar/None Records. Click on the band name to visit their site, click on the song name to listen to the song. Spooky, scary… Read more…
In honor of Halloween, EAR FARM has a mix for you that includes 18 of the creepiest songs from classic horror movies including Halloween, The Omen, Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, and MORE. Listen to this alone… we DARE you!
Read more…
“A Place for Dead Roads” by Other Passengers which clocks in at 8:41.
Tomorrow is Halloween. The time for spooks and ghouls and ghastly tales of the macabre and tricks and treats. In the spirit of the holiday I’d like to share a story with you. It’s my story, it is an entirely true story. In fact, the events that occurred are more accurately retold in this particular story than in many of the other true life tales I’ve told in the 8+ series. This is a true, honest, ghost story. As for the song, well, nothing goes better with a ghost story on Halloween than a bit of the old Other Passengers. The title of the song, as you will see, is a somewhat of an intentional coincidence. Read more…
Just in time for a nice holiday push, America’s favorite torchbearers of Liberace schmaltz – The Killers – return next month with the brand new studio album Day & Age. I say “brand new” somewhat loosely, however, and not because of all the chatter about how it’s a return to Hot Fuss’s synth-heavy hooks or any of that; nah, I’ll just keep insulating myself from critical interpretation of the Killers’ canon if it’s all the same to you.
You see, even without any prior research into readymade topics like the band’s “mission statement”, “evolution”, or “intent” on this album – all of which I’m sure will be peddled for journalist fodder on imminent magazine covers and such – I can tell you right now that there’s most likely not a hell of a lot about Day & Age that will be new or interesting.
The whole affair just has a worn feel to it, something that’s awfully familiar, and it’s not just in the Eurythmics-aping video for the first single “Human”, which finds Flowers and company in the desert wearing some sort of extinct bird’s plumage and in possession of a few Blue Man Group stage props (watch it HERE).
The real familiarity comes with the album’s tracklisting, a spread of 10 names so bland and hackneyed that you can’t help but feel they’ve already been used many times as song titles or derived from previous sources: Read more…
EAR FARM’s Three for Free: three EF approved, free and legal MP3s posted whenever the mood strikes us. Today’s bands have been brought to you by the letter S. Click on the band name to visit their site, click on the song name to listen to the song. Yesssssss. Read more…
Of the many enjoyable ancillary activities during CMJ, can anything even touch the time-honored pleasure of people watching?
Uh, yeah, we think so, and we’ve got the transcripts to prove it. You see, people not only look funny, but they say funny things. And whether that entails laughing with them, or, in other cases, laughing AT them, overhearing conversational snippets, impromptu onstage rants, and drunken ramblings has kind of become its own worthwhile pursuit for us during CMJ.
To commemorate an especially vibrant week of pull quotes, we’ve assembled a list of our favorites (in no particular order) but decided to give it a bit of a twist. Below, you’ll find things we overheard last week; 11 of them are absolutely, legitimately true, but four are definitely, patently fabricated. Can you guess which ones we heard and which are just figments of our sleep-deprived minds? The answer key is at the bottom…. Read more…
EAR FARM’s Three for Free: three EF approved, free and legal MP3s posted whenever the mood strikes us. For this Monday, as we writhe in our collective CMJ hangovers, we’ve got three new ones that we just know you’re gonna dig. Click on the band name to visit their site, click on the song name to listen to the song. Voila. Read more…
Over the past five days, we’ve unveiled the line of Thinks Ups that we designed for Neighborhoodies. Each shirt was born out of some combination of our love of music, The Goonies, and pop culture in general. Today’s shirt, the final in our series, is no different. Read more…
For our fourth design in the Thinks Ups line for Neighborhoodies we went back to an old faithful source of much love, entertainment, and inspiration. Read more…
We’re on to our third day of EAR FARM designed Thinks Ups for Neighborhoodies - purchase this shirt, or view the previous two designs, at the links below. The inspiration for number three? Read more…
Our second design for the Neighborhoodies Thinks Ups program is posted above and can be purchased at the link below. The inspiration for this one? Read more…
Local Natives have energy to spare, and simply must put on a great live show; this much comes through in the song(s) posted below, as well as the few other tracks they’ve made available from their upcoming/recently recorded debut album. Immediately you’ll hear hints of David Byrne’s manic delivery that recalls the coolly calm yet frenetic jams of recent bands such as Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Annuals. Unlike the previously mentioned bands, however, Local Natives are driven by Gatling gun percussion that propels their melodies forward with magnetic force. Pay attention Southern California, you’ve got something special on your hands with Local Natives. East Coasters (EAR FARM included) will just have to wait.
Listen: “Airplanes”
Watch: Local Natives performing “Cecilia” by Simon and Garfunkel (below)
See Local Natives live:
24 Oct - Los Angeles, CA @ Zero Film Festival
7 Nov - Costa Mesa, CA @ Evocal
8 Nov - Santa Monica, CA @ the Kutting Room
18 Nov - Silverlake, CA @ Silverlake Lounge
28 Nov - Los Angeles, CA @ Hotel Cafe
Visit Local Natives on MySpace.