Archive - Jul 25, 2005
Participatory Politics
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 07/25/2005 - 23:40(Originally published at Greater Democracy)
I slept last night in a good hotel
I went shopping today for jewels
Thus starts Joni Mitchell’s song, For Free. She goes on to contrast this experience with a street musician,
Across the street he stood
And he played real good
On his clarinet, for free
As I drove off to work on the DeStefano campaign, I heard news about a gubernatorial candidate in neighboring New York State. Eliot Spitzer announced today that Sony/BMG has “agreed today to stop providing lavish gifts, free trips and other giveaways in exchange for airtime for its artists on radio stations” according to a New York Times article.
All of this provided an interesting contrast to Falcon Ridge, a folk music festival I attend every summer. Some of my favorite musicians perform there regularly, such as The Kennedys. They present the other side of the musical equation. Sony/BMG may have to pay millions to get people to listen to J. Lo, but people who love music make pilgrimages to camp out in the hot sun to listen to groups like The Kennedys.
Participatory Democracy
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 07/25/2005 - 22:43I’ve been pretty busy with the DeStefano campaign recently, and haven’t been writing here as much as I should. I have been struggling with whether or not to put posts from the DeStefano campaign here, the way I have put posts to other sites. So far, I haven’t put many such posts here.
However, today, I will include one of my recent posts. As many of you know, we spent last weekend at Falcon Ridge, a folk festival we go to each year. As I sat and listened to the music, I thought a lot of participation in politics and participation in music. I hope to write more on this soon.
