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Fountain Square
"Vote Early, Rock Late" was a rally to support Barack Obama and Joe Biden on October 16th at Fountain Square in Cincinnati (Located at the corner of Fifth & Vine Streets, downtown) 5-9 pm The event featurs performances by The National & The Breeders and speeches by prominent politicians. The show is free to all!
This exciting event is being organized by international recording artists THE NATIONAL in conjunction with local Cincinnatians and long time supporters of the Democratic Party, Allan & Jennie Berliant, and Scott Durban, Executive Producer of a Cincinnati production company, Lightborne, Inc. THE NATIONAL, who are now based in New York City – is comprised of Cincinnati transplants, and they are thrilled to be coming home for this special event to promote CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN. They have also asked their friends and fellow Ohioans THE BREEDERS to join them for this free concert on Fountain Square, Thursday, October 16th.
Ohio is a swing state, and a recent University of Cincinnati poll shows McCain leading Obama 48% - 44 % in the State, so this is quite an important event in a pivotal battleground area. The title of the event, “Vote Early. Rock Late.” is tied to the new laws in Ohio allowing for early voting starting September 30th. On October 16th, the date of the concert, The Hamilton County Board of Elections will be open late and concert goers will be encourage to walk the few blocks to the Elections office and cast their vote that evening. Buses will also be provided to transport people to the voting location.
THE NATIONAL have previously shown support for Barack Obama by allowing an instrumental version of their song “Fake Empire” from their most recent album Boxer to be used by the Obama campaign in a video shown in Denver prior to Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention.
With regards to their excitement about this event, members of THE NATIONAL said “We are incredibly excited and honored to have the opportunity to support Barack Obama's inspiring candidacy for President. Bush and his cronies have wrecked this country at home and abroad. With an economy in freefall and a public education system that is collapsing, we are pouring billions of dollars every month into Iraq to fight an unwinnable war based on false pretenses. Millions of American citizens can't afford health insurance and unemployment is soaring across the country, yet the Republican Party continues to preserve unfair tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and promote a Byzantine social agenda to kowtow to an out-of-touch right-wing voter base. John McCain and Sarah Palin promise to carry the torch for Bush and push America ever further into the Dark Ages. We desperately need change and more intelligent, pro-social leadership in this country and Barack Obama is absolutely the right man for the job. We sincerely hope Ohioans of all stripes will join us to help make a difference in Ohio on election day.”
THE BREEDERS recently released their first album in 6 years, Mountain Battles, and when their labelmates asked them to join them in this special event, they jumped at the chance. The Breeders are Kim and Kelley Deal who currently live in their hometown of Dayton, OH and Jose Medeles and Mando Lopez. Since the release of Mountain Battles the Breeders have been touring the world, which includes sold-out shows across the U.S. The Breeders have long been politically active. Kelley was precinct leader for Move-on PAC in 2004 and she, along with Kim and their mother, worked the polls that same year. The sisters have also appeared with John Cameron Mitchell for voter awareness in Dayton.
“It will be a lot of work but we know it will be worth it. If we can get a ton of young people downtown for the free concert with these phenomenal bands, and then get them over to the Board of Elections to vote early, we will be hitting a target group that is strongly in favor of Barack Obama in a key battleground state, ” says Allan Berliant.
