ELECTION 2004 Bands join group to promote voting

HeadCount booths have been at summer concerts.
By JOHN PATRICK GATTA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Some of your favorite musicians don't want you to leave their concert solely with memories of great performances. They don't want you to forget that there's more to life than an evening's worth of good music and good times.
Artists such as Bob Weir and Dave Matthews have affiliated their reputation and their current tours with the Dead and Dave Matthews Band with HeadCount, a not-for-profit, nonpartisan voter registration group run by volunteers.
Both bands, as well as Phish and Primus, will have HeadCount voter registration tables set up inside and outside venues this summer. A booth also was at the Bonnaroo Music Festival earlier this month in Tennessee.
Growing support
Santana, the String Cheese Incident, Primus, Gov't Mule, Galactic, Leftover Salmon, moe., the North Mississippi Allstars and the Disco Biscuits have also welcomed HeadCount to their concerts.
With the support of high profile artists, HeadCount has quickly gained the attention and a degree of prestige since its creation four months ago by its co-chairmen, Andy Bernstein, author of "The Pharmer's Almanac," an exhaustive account of the music and concerts of Phish, and Marc Brownstein, bassist in the Disco Biscuits.
"I was upset about what was happening to the planet," said Bernstein during an interview backstage at Bonnaroo. "HeadCount is a community that, for a large part, wants to make a difference, to be politically active."
Bernstein views the crowd at Bonnaroo and any other concert that attracts fans of jam bands as a desirable demographic that needs to realize its power as a voting bloc.
Motivation
"The scene here has its routes in the '60s counterculture, but it's become largely disaffected and apathetic."
He hopes to motivate them from years of complacency and cause them to understand how voting makes an impact on the actions of politicians. "HeadCount strives to not only get music fans to register to vote but also to get music fans getting other people to vote," he said.
"It's a springboard to activism, to contribute at a time when other people are asking themselves, 'What can I do?'"
At the moment, there are a 1,000 volunteers working on 44 HeadCount teams nationwide. To raise funds for the fledgling organization's expenses, it recently held a benefit concert and held a raffle for a Bonnaroo program signed by many of the participating musicians.
Michael Kang of the String Cheese Incident took matters an extra step when, on opening day, he canvassed the Bonnaroo grounds for unregistered voters.
Most important election
At a press conference Dave Matthews explained the importance of fans not to sit on the sidelines this election year.
"I think there are a lot of people that feel voiceless in this country right now. It's extremely important to vote. Maybe this is the most important election-- in my opinion -- of my lifetime. Whatever we think of the guy that's in office right now, we should think about how the world views us 'cause we're on really thin ice right now as far as the world is concerned. We're not most of the world. We're a really small part of it, and we need to think very carefully how they will view the results of this election.
"So, if ever you are going to vote, this should be the one election we vote in. You should try to vote in all of 'em, but this is one that really could decide the direction of not only our country, but the world."
Matthews joined Bernstein's crusade on a personal level when he made a public service announcement in an ad hoc studio set up backstage at Bonnaroo. Kang, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, Sam Bush and members of Galactic also recorded PSAs on the importance of voting and making a difference in a democracy. The ads will run on TNT, TBS and other stations.
XFor information, see the Web site www.headcount.org.