I'm a nerd who covers politics. My husband is a hip dude who covers music. Tonight on the Burlington Waterfront the nerds got together with the hipsters.
The occasion was a free show called DemRockracy, headlining Mike Gordon (formerly of Phish) and Bernie Sanders (currently of the U.S. Senate).
Because technology allows it, I offer you a very fuzzy photo taken on my cell phone, just to prove that cell phones should be cell phones and cameras should be cameras. Because you surely can't tell, that's Sanders, Gordon and Rep. Peter Welch somewhere in the blur.
Most of the people were there for the music, and thankfully, most of the stage time was devoted to music. But this is a political blog, so we're going to talk about that part here. You want talk about music, go visit the hip dude's
BLOG.
During a break from the music, Gordon introduced Sanders, who declared this coming election the most important in the history of the U.S. (So much for Benjamin Harrison's election).
Sanders is all hepped on Barack Obama these days and in his rousing way he encouraged the crowd to be too. He also talked about people you should vote for if you happen to be from Maine or a few other places, but when it came to talk about Vermont elections, all he did was tell people to register to vote. He did not mention that there is a race for governor going on, or that one of his former aides (Anthony Pollina) is running in it.
Earlier this week I asked Sanders' staff if I could talk to him about Pollina and he declined. Pollina, who was along with Democrat Gaye Symington was working the crowd at DemRockracy (Republican Jim Douglas nowhere to be seen), said he hasn't specifically asked Sanders to endorse him. He seems to know that when Sanders doesn't feel like playing, he doesn't play.
Sanders did feel like playing with Welch, whom he welcomed on the stage. As Welch started speaking - I'm not making this up - a guy next to me in the crowd winced in pain at his lack of smoothness. Welch did then gain his stride and the guy was able to keep his wincing in check.
Really, the music was the highlight.
- Terri Hallenbeck
