Change Your Tune (and your socks)

While the Democratic National Convention doesn't bring the same kind of excitement as Warped Tour or the summer olympics (maybe if the politicians all wore sparkly gymnastic outfits or crowd-surfed after their speeches), I will admit I've been watching it for at least a little while every night. (And not just for the reason that I watch the Miss America pageant, which is to hopefully see at least three contests totally wipe out on the steps.)

Yawn-inducing as it may be, this is history, people. Last night, Barack Obama--the first African-American candidate to be nominated for president by a major political party--gave his acceptance speech on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. While this would have given me goosebumps if I wasn't convinced the "coincidence" was entirely contrived, it's still pretty awesome.

I'm not going to use this forum to shamelessly propagate my own personal opinions and write things like, "Vote For Change." Nope, I'm not going to say that, I'm instead only going to say that change is inevitable. We can either choose how we are going to change, or we can sit on the sidelines (like Brady Quinn for three quarters of last night's exhibition game against the Bears, completely ridiculous coaching decision) and let someone change things for us. Truly, this isn't about politics or presidential candidates at all, it's about what changes us and how we change ourselves.

A wise poet once said that the personal is always political. No matter what we say or do, it reflects the social truths of our time. If I were to write about how I can't buy a new CD because I have to spend way too much money on gas to get to work, that says something about the social climate and where I fit into it. So I'm not telling you what to think, I'm telling you to tell yourself. Elections aren't about candidates, they are about voters. 

And maybe that's just idealism talking. But as sometimes cynical and jaded as artists and musicians can be, if it weren't for a little idealism they'd never put pen to paper, music to tape or brush to canvas. Every time a musician creates a new song, they offer something entirely new to the world that forever changes the landscape (for better or worse). Artists create change every day. They change the scene, they change the sound and they change their listeners. I think all of us could easily rattle off a list of bands and songs that either marked moments of change for us or entirely changed us all together.

Speaking of change, Obama really needs to have a chat with the DNC about their musical choices for this convention. Sheryl Crow? Melissa Etheridge? If McCain's going to call Obama a "rock star" candidate, at least get some serious rock to back him up.