Okkervil River
http://www.okkervilriver.com/When Jew Dan asked if I wanted to see Okkervil River at Metro, I instantly said yes. It didn't really register that it was: 1. on a Tues.; 2. at 9 pm; 3. with 2 opening bands; 4. after being out of town the weekend before. But I rallied! Met him at Gingerman for a couple of drinks beforehand. Crooked Fingers was the 2nd opening band and they were pretty good. Okkervil River was great. Really, really great. They have this alt-folk-emo sound most of the time. Tim compared them to Bright Eyes. But live? They totally, rocked. Lots of loud guitars, hip shakin and mike stand kicking over. Really rocked out. Lots of energy. Rhett Miller and The Old 97s energy-- and if you know me, you know that's HIGH praise. The show ended around 1 am. The next day was pretty rough. But it was so worth it.
Obama
In 2004, Lisa, Lori, Ashlee & I went up to Milwaukee to canvass for Kerry since WI was a swing state. It went blue. So we figured we'd give it another try-- this time taking on Indiana. It was only me & Lisa but I had mentioned it to Dan at Okkervil River and he wanted to join. So Sunday morning the 3 of us went to Michigan City, IN to canvass for Obama.
All I know about Michigan City is that it has: 1. outlet malls and; 2. casinos. The neighborhood we went to was a crystallized version of the economic crisis we've all be hearing about. Most of the doors we knocked on there was no answer. Of those, a large portion had "for sale" signs on the front lawn. Some were even boarded up. There were just a disturbing number of vacant homes falling apart. I'm not sure if that is due to the housing crisis or to a depressed community. Regardless, it was sad to see. The up side was that when we did encounter people, they were Obama supporters and excited about the election. We informed people about and encouraged early voting. Dan got a woman who said that she was a supporter of Hillary's but not of Obama's to change her mind. It was a beautiful fall day and lovely to be outside talking to people, getting excited about the election. PLUS we got Culvers for lunch. AND Steak n' Shake shakes on the way home. What more can you ask for? Other than for Indiana to go blue!
1 comment:
I am so proud of you guys for doing that! That is really wonderful. The housing situation is scary - I saw a piece in CNN this morning about the Michigan GOP going through lists of foreclosed homes and challenging voters who try to vote from those addresses (knowing folks who lost their homes might be feeling, and voting, blue). It made me so mad. Another reason I'd never move back there.
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