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SaraBenincasa1's New York Blog
The Choose or Lose 2008 Street Team citizen journalist for New York, Sara Benincasa, takes you deep within the recesses of her brain. Expect magic. And political insight.
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This blogger is a member of Street Team '08, a hand-picked group of state-based citizen journalists who are contributing to MTV's Choose or Lose election coverage.
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Adobe is the exclusive software partner of Street Team '08, as part of Adobe Youth Voices.
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*Street Team '08 members are independent journalists. Any views and opinions expressed here are their own, and not those of MTV or The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
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See all of SaraBenincasaNY's blog posts
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BARACK AND ROLL!
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Posted January 18, 2008 at 8:07 AM
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The first inkling I had that this was going to be an unusual election year came when my best friend’s dad, a cantankerous old Republican and military veteran (rich, white, fond of golf), casually informed me via e-mail that he was voting for Barack Obama this year.
“You’re what?” I sputtered aloud as I read the e-mail at work. Needless to say, the folks in the cubicles around me thought I was nuts (and hell, they’re probably right). But I couldn’t believe it. This guy has been an ardent Republican for as long as I’ve known him, and that’s a hell of a long time. He’d be at home at the country club or in the corner office, but on Team Barack? Really?
“That’s not unusual,” Manhattan-based writer and Obama supporter Meggan Lennon tells me when I relate the tale to her during a recent interview. Meggan’s been working on a documentary about Senator Obama with Chicago filmmaker Amy Rice for two years now, and she’s been to endless town hall meetings, community meet-and-greets, and campaign stops with the senator, spending as many as 20 hours a day following Obama around with a camera. She tells me that she’s seen several instances in which folks will introduce themselves to Obama by saying, “I’m a lifelong Republican, and I’m voting for you.”
I ask Meggan why she thinks this seemingly impossible phenomenon takes place, and she replies, “He’s really positive. It is not a negative campaign.” She thinks a bit more and says, “He does not come off like a politician, ever. He’s a sane, rational person.”
“Which is what every intelligent young American wants,” adds Meggan’s husband, musician Craig Wedren. Craig did time in the thriving D.C. punk scene of the late ‘80s and found fame and respect as a member of the influential underground rock band Shudder to Think. He later went on to NYU with his childhood friend, comedian and filmmaker David Wain (The Ten, Wet Hot American Summer), where he befriended David’s new pals, the sketch group The State. Craig studied experimental theatre at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he began to experiment with creating avante garde soundscapes. The State drafted him into scoring their short films and live shows, and he eventually wrote the theme song for the MTV series “The State,” which gained a cult following that remains strong to this day. Working alone or with his chief collaborator, Teddy Shapiro, Wedren also scored the films Laurel Canyon, Wet Hot American Summer, Rodger Dodger, High Art, The Baxter, The School of Rock, and Reno 911: Miami (Meggan’s brother Tom plays Lieutenant Dangle in the film and on the Comedy Central series “Reno 911.”) He recently did the theme song for the film Balls of Fury; it’s called “Balls of Fury.”
Meggan and Craig are one of those cool power couples who seem to spring up now and again in New York City; they’re artsy, yet business-minded, and creative, but practical. All of these characteristics are undoubtedly being put to use at present as they prepare for a whirlwind of activity leading up to their newest joint project, a concert to raise awareness of the New York state primary and to encourage young people to vote. The primary takes place on Super Tuesday, February 5th, and the concert will be held the prior evening, February 4th, at Manhattan’s Bowery Ballroom. The name of the show? Barack Rock.
“Amy Rice and I realized we had all these great resources to tap,” Meggan said. Added Craig, “We just started plotting and scheming and then it became a real thing.” The evening, which will be hosted by the comedy group Stella (David Wain, Michael Ian Black, and Michael Showalter, who are all members of The State), will feature a Shudder to Think reunion of sorts, with Craig and his former bandmate Nathan Larson doing some of their old tunes. The singer-songwriter Joan Wasser, who performs as Joan As Police Woman, will also do a set. Nina Persson of the Cardigans and A Camp (who, as Craig points out, is conveniently married to Nathan Larson), will perform, as will the band OK Go.
Meggan and Craig are stoked on Obama. You can see it in their eyes and hear it in their voices when they talk about him. They aren’t zealots, but they’re passionate. And I find their enthusiasm fascinating. I’ve always been deeply interested in activists, those individuals who are so inspired by a particular cause or individual that they simply can’t imagine not doing everything in their power to assist that cause or individual.
Over the next year, I’ll follow other activists as they pursue their ideological and social goals, and I’ll bring you their stories. I’ll also follow up with those folks as time passes so that you can watch their progress. Some of them, like Meggan and Craig, would probably characterize themselves as liberals or progressives; others would, well, shudder to think of being labeled anything other than conservative, while still others resist labels entirely. Perhaps learning about them will help you to figure out where you fit in the grand socio-political-philosophical-ideological scheme of things. At the very least, I'll introduce you to some unforgettable people.
For more information about Meggan, Craig, and the concert, visit GetUpAndVote.com. For more information on Stella, go to StellaComedy.com. And if it’s those wacky kids from OK Go you seek, feast your eyes on OKGo.net.
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