Bands Rock Against Bush - Concerts and tours to raise awareness about 2004 election

Sonic Youth, the Donnas, the Liars, the Locust and Erase Errata are among the groups who have pledged their support for Bands Against Bush, a self-explanatory new artistic collective dedicated to lending its support to the "struggle against a world of perpetual fear and violence bolstered by the Bush administration." BAB has set up more than twenty regional chapters in the U.S. and abroad, with a directory of groups willing to participate in various events to raise voter awareness. Among the events planned is an October 11th international day of action, with concerts planned for New York City; Olympia, Washington; Seattle; Los Angeles; Boston; Washington, D.C.; Portland, Oregon; Paris, France; and Dublin, Ireland. The day of action will be preceded by a Rock Against Reagan Memorial show on October 9th.

On the recording front, Green Day, NOFX, Good Charlotte and others will contribute songs to Rock Against Bush, a compilation to raise political awareness prior to next year's presidential election. The set is due next year and will be augmented by a tour organized by NOFX frontman Fat Mike.

And Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello is planning to hit the road with fellow politically minded musicians Billy Bragg and Steve Earle on the Tell Us the Truth Tour this fall. The jaunt is being timed to coincide with campaigning for the 2004 election.

I'm sure that they are building up a mailing list. They will probably repeat this stunt several times in 2004 and will probably protest at the GOP convention.

These are the people who protest the WTO, the G8 summits, foreign McDonalds openings, gathered in the streets to protest the George W. Bush election victory, protested the war (and smashed bank windows and trashed Starbucks and INS offices). Wouldn't surprise me that they are also on the Burning Man festival mailing list.

The Anarchists are building up a network of roving mobs. They need to be able to mobilize the troops. Indymedia is good at diseminating the marching orders (and yes Indymedia has been giving BAB coverage and this org links to Indymedia).

Anarchism is antigovernment, flat out. They need to be busted up for sedition. Some in the socialist-anarchy movement don't see themselves as traitors because they don't believe that their goals will be accomplished in their lifetimes. That matters not, it is their intent to tear down our constitutional government and their are aided in their efforts by foreign organizations. It sickens me to hear them use the Constitution to defend their "rights" of protest when if they had their way, there would be no Constitution.

I'd like to see Johnny Ramone publicly give the Republican candidate some support. He has embraced Ronald Reagan (and even convinced Joey to vote for him, twice I believe). Let the kids know that "punk" does not necessarily mean "leftist". C.J. Ramone isn't a die-hard leftist although he wouldn't call himself a conservative either; he'd probably distance himself from Johnny's position and the band does not exist anymore. Johnny was the band leader.

Your list of country artists is admirable (and a better list of bands than ex-junkie Steve Earle who is contributing to BAB) but I think that there needs to be some counterweight to all of the bands represented.

The lead guy in the Smithereens is also publicly a conservative.

We've compiled up such lists before; I'd just like to see them publicly counter the rhetoric of the left. They don't even need to spout the talking points/counterpoints of the issues. I'd just like them to say something like:

"Hey, we aren't all leftists and these organizations don't speak for me. I'm a conservative and I vote. I support the President and recognize that there are some foreign powers that mean us and the world serious harm; the threat did not originate on 9-11-2001.
We had been attacked at home and abroad for nearly a decade without any response from the previous administration. Did people forget the 1993 WTC bombing? Did they forget the sniper outside of the CIA offices, did they forget the USS Cole, the US embassy bombing... They certainly forgot that President Clinton bombed Iraq in December 1998 allegedly because of Saddam's weapons program. Mr. Clinton did not seek the approval of other nations when this strike was made. Ironically the attack took place on the verge of the impeachment vote and provided a front page distraction from his impeachment.
I don't step forward to debate the issues; I'm an entertainer and it would be an abuse of my spotlight in the public arena. What difference should my political beliefs mean to you if I don't put them in my songs? I don't insist that you join the Republican party; just dig a little deeper in investigating those celebrities and organizations who are adamantly against our president, capitalism, our nation and government. There are foreign forces of socialist-anarchism and communism at work. Don't be one of Stalin's Useful Idiots.

I'd email some conservative musicians if I had good email addresses on them (I don't know how the guy who runs the Ramones site feels politically and don't know that my message would make it to Johnny, I think that it is Arturo(sp?) who has been with the band a long time behind the scenes). Vincent Gallo is a friend of Johnny Ramone and a conservative. He has his own website but virtually never will post to his own message forum. I might be able to email him privately through his site.

Again, I'd like to see a response from conservative entertainers but at the end of the day, I don't want to see polilticking from people who we pay to hear sing and speak rehearsed dialogue written by other people. Our conservative speakers (Laura Ingrahm, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and his brother,...) are quite well informed on the issues and have debate skills and recall needed to discuss problems and deflect the DNC (lies) talking points. Why send a possibly underinformed musician to fight our battles? They are just one of our troops in the Culture War.

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