I never really expected we would get such an amazing response to our request to musicians to help us ask the two men who would be Prez to get thee to NOLA and talk about the coast.I’m really thankful that VOW helped get the ball rolling, and that the folks from Pearl Jam’s PR shop helped us spread the word. Of course the question remains as to whether John McCain has any idea of who REM, Pearl Jam, the Meters, Jackson Browne, NIN or Indigo Girls actually are (let alone My Morning Jacket or Ok Go or other shorter discography groups). Unfortunately, my outreach efforts to Lawrence Welk were ultimately unsuccessful…Read some cool coverage here, here, and here.Of course the big ask in the letter, which is to get McCain and Obama to commit to the New Orleans Google/YouTube debate, seems to have been written off by the Times-Picayune and one of the event’s main sponsors. I personally think we should be making an even louder stink about this, and folks who support NOLA and a more active and engaged democracy need to push hard to get the candidates to debate MORE not less. Do that here.Here’s the question they should answer:Also, big thanks to Walter Williams for shooting Amanda at her 18th Birthday Party, Stanton Moore, Rueben Williams, and Clint Maedgen, Nicole and Sarah at Vandenberg Communications for outreach assistance, Harry Shearer for feedback, and Trevor Fitzgibbon for making the whole thing possible.Aaron Viles is GRN’s Campaign Director
