Rock out with your Barack out
Afrofunk Festival - Night 2
(Read about Night 1 here)
The Independent
July 25, 2008
Notes and Photos by Alex Brant-Zawadzki
Funk me once, shame on you. Funk me twice, shame on me.
That's right, for lack of better judgment, one lone San Francisco for Obama volunteer returned to The Independent on Friday night for the sole purpose of registering one voter.
In fact he registered four. Bonus. He broke his voter registration cherry with Damian from the B-Side Players. But it wasn't serious; they're not like an item or anything.
The 4th Annual Afrofunk Festival's second night nearly blew the roof off The Independent. The B-Side Players, fronted by the inestimable Solrak, were handed (on a silver platter) a crowd quite well warmed by such talents as Fuga! (which is really fun to shout at people in different contexts - mothafuga!), not to mention DJ Jeremiah and the Afrobeat Nation. Jeremiah was one of those, along with promoter Victor Mutungi, who made certain that someone would be in attendance on Friday to register voters. I'm not sure if the best thing about Fuga! is Tani's derisively adorable voice (accompanied by a similarly adorable instrument), or whether it's the accordion. Because man, do they ever extend that mothafuga'n accordion. But don't take my word for it. Listen to Desde la Frontera for yourself or become a Fuguista on MySpace.
Erin
She Has Hope
Probably the high point of the night, if not one Obamauton's life, was Erin. Erin is not only an enthusiastic Obama supporter, but even went to far as to ask to be completely covered in Obama stickers. Sadly this was economically undesirable, but the dear girl was still eager to demonstrate her passion for Obama. Not only that, but her ardor inspired nearly everyone around her to sport Obama stickers in probably inappropriate places. What can I say...marketing is about knowing the interests of your target audience. Rock out with your Barack out.
Solrak rockin' Barack
Solrak showed Obama significant love yet again - in fact the B-Side players expressed an interest in perhaps doing a quick October Tour of Hope, in order to energize a likely-electorally-exhausted public, who will have been forced to endure an onslaught of propaganda designed specifically to get them too sick of elections to even think about voting. Well, funk that. If the enthusiasm of even only the Independent staff is anything to go by, Obama is in fine shape to reshape this nation come November.
Damian of B-Side Players
Saturday marks the third and final night of the funksational Afrofunk "Yes We Can" Tour. Come show some love to World Action for Change, the beneficiary of the benefit, and rock the funk out while you're at it. Do it for Erin.
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