As Halloween weekend in Madison came to a close two years ago, I found myself making my way to a spontaneous Sunday night String Cheese Incident concert. A friend of mine was going and, having been a jam-band fan since my slightly more rebellious high school years, I jumped on board last minute. The first set was uneventful. Funky, freaky- the usual improvised chaos, trippy light spectacular, and glassy-eyed earth children. But as the second set began, I was in for a surprise. The hazy sea of earth and skin tones all of a sudden exploded in red, white and blue. Lights ignited, confetti dumped down on us, a parade of people in wildly patriotic costumes appeared, and my ears found the familiar tune of Peace Train. Apparently I had missed the memo on this show. It was the WePubliCan National Convention; an enormous, musical political parody and a call to String Cheese and jam-band fans everywhere to get off their hippie butts and get active in what was going on politically around them. This was not what I was used to. If there was any modern intersection between politics and music, it was completely unfamiliar to me. Id seen String Cheese several times before. Id seen Phish. Id seen Moe. Id seen Galactic and the Disco Biscuits and Government Mule and anyone else in the emerging musical genre. But I had never seen red, white and blue. As Peace Train turned into You Say You Want a Revolution, I got seriously turned on. There was something here. There was something powerful at this unfamiliar intersection. The jam-band culture was one I felt very familiar with. My high school memories made it comfortably predictable. The beer and veggie burritos in the parking lot after concerts. The complicated instrumental songs I desperately tried to memorize the names of. The patchwork skirts and knotted hair and dreamy smiles. Being young and completely swept up in it all, it was natural, probably healthy, that I never took much time to reflect on the movement I was a part of. Yeah, the movement. The stagnant, directionless, but unbelievably powerful social movement that I found myself standing in the middle of and inevitably, as youth tend to do, underestimating the clout that lay at its feet. We were the neo-hippie. We were counterculture. We were chips off the old blocks. Products of parents who were there. We were the outline of a social movement that somehow found itself standing completely still. We threw peace signs at each other without understanding what peace was and why it was so important and what was at stake when it disappeared. We listened to our idols wax poetic about groovy things in life and somehow came under the impression that anything beyond that couldnt matter anymore. We said we were free and that was all that mattered, while carelessly underestimating the fragility of that freedom. But these days the movement seems to have awakened and found its feet. These days, that excitement I felt back on Halloween two years ago has been recurring with frequency. That intersection I found myself at, completely unprepared, has emerged as something unique, concrete and constant. The organization HeadCount sprang up a few years ago; a non-profit devoted to voter registration and democracy participation. It was founded by different characters from the jam-band crowd who travel around to various shows and festivals, registering voters and encouraging a consistent commitment to our political process. Last spring Ben Harper released his new album Both Sides of the Gun, and it reeked of political persuasion. What good is a man / Who wont take a stand / What good is a cynic / With no better plan Not only was it a general revolutionary call of sorts, but there were direct references to the status quo and its administration. You left them swimming for their lives/ Down in New Orleans / Cant afford a gallon of gasoline /With your useless degrees and contrary statistics / This government business is straight up sadistic At his concert this summer in San Francisco, Harper writhed around the stage and screamed for a Better Way, while his anthemic lyrics flashed in all different languages on the screen behind him. My roommate called me a few weeks later from a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young concert in New York and exclaimed about the red, white and blue themes and the anti-Bush footage projected on the screen behind the band. Michael Franti and Spearhead released their newest album at the end of the summer; a tribute to and a reflection of time spent traveling around the Middle East. The lyrics are socially synced. They are sensitive. They call for tolerance, love, patience, peace. Those who start wars never fight them / And those who fight wars never like them / Those who write laws can recite them / And those of us who just fight laws we live and die them These artists have become revolutionary in their own way. They have somehow managed to bring the music and the movement back to its foundation. This is music that began as a reaction to a political status quo. The tragically disenchanted of the 1960s found a way to revive their dormant idealism. The Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix got on stage and a community was formed. The music itself didnt have to be a political manifesto- it rarely was- but the important thing is that a collective voice was built and utilized, and music was the meeting point. The artists brought people together and inspired them to remain conscious of what was outside the musical utopia theyd created. The man cant be damned if you lose sight of him. A counterculture cant exist without understanding the original culture first. And now our generation has its own voice of counterculture. These artists indignantly jab at leaders who have lied, led us astray, or lost perspective. They work to inspire their listener to be aware and active and to congregate and organize a community voice. John Lennon would be proud. But whats motivated the decidedly a-political, neo-hippie, Phish-led culture of the late 90s to grow into this hungry political giant? Why has the womanizing Franti all of a sudden developed a social conscience? Why did Harper go from singing about God and pot to current affairs? It could be a marketing ploy. Politics are unarguably hot these days, especially among us young and righteous, so if you want us to listen, you sing about what weve decided to care about this week. Maybe its circumstance. Were in an incredibly politically-charged and divided point in our history. It follows that naturally our culture would begin to reflect that. Id like to think it was just time. The forces necessary came together. Enough frustration, misunderstanding, anger and disagreement and a revolution is born. The contextual stars aligned and this intersection appeared. The point is- it doesnt really matter so much why its happening. The important thing is that it is happening. Music and politics dont have to be at a constant intersection. That would be obnoxious. But when appropriate, their communion can motivate the masses. As HeadCount writes on their website; We believe that music, expression and freedom are all intrinsically intertwined. Our community can trace its roots back to the 1960s counterculture, with a sense of higher purpose that can still be felt today. Many artists and fans have strong convictions and a deep personal belief in democracy. We created an organizational structure to channel those beliefs into action. Feeling Groovy? Emily is too. Email her at browne.em@gmail.com