Democraroo 2008: Jammin for Change!
Headliners to include Barack Obama with the Change Orchestra! Joe Biden! Special acoustic set by Al Gore, Michelle Obama, Billary Clinton, and the Senate Funkadellic!
Headliners to include Barack Obama with the Change Orchestra! Joe Biden! Special acoustic set by Al Gore, Michelle Obama, Billary Clinton, and the Senate Funkadellic!
As I packed up my guitar and headed for the lite-rail home on Friday afternoon after jazz ensemble, I couldn't help but notice how the campus of the University of Colorado at Denver, a place literally across the street from the now-infamous Pepsi Center, was starting to change. Construction crews started walling us in with barricades that stretched across the entire campus. Guys in black suits were driving around in large, black SUVs with the kind of attitude that says "Don't fuck with me, I'm in the Secret Service." And that was just the beginnining.
All this past summer, Denver had been buzzing about the arrival of the DNC. At first, it was mostly just talk about how to volunteer, good concerts happening because of it, and how careful you needed to be because of the beefed-up police force.
Restaurants downtown started hiring people like mad, anticipating the rush that was no-doubt going to befall them. (Working at an Indian restaurant in the spring/early summer had shown me that Denver is really a city that relies heavily on conventions coming to town to increase business; usually, the restaurant was insanely packed during any kind of event at the Convention Center, yet fairly slow any other time, even on a weekend).
But as the event drew closer, it became increasingly obvious that this wasn't just going to be your average convention of dentists or pharmacists. Just a week before the convention, it was leaked by a reporter (who had just snuck in and started taking pictures) that the Denver Police had built a facility to hold protestors.
A day later, they released a statement that said they had been planning to tell the public. Sure......
I also heard from a friend that the city was not just expecting politicians and protestors, but also a group of business-people very closely associated with politics: prostitutes.
Having signed up to volunteer for the Democratic Party Welcome Committee, I received an email that sent me to a hotel just one block from the 16th Street Mall (an outdoor pedestrian mall that is the heart of downtown. I, like many residents of downtown-Denver, spend a nice chunk of time down here, as there is literally one of every kind of store/theater/restaurant/attraction. I also often play guitar on the sidewalk, as there is nothing requiring you to have a permit to play. More on that later...)
The email said that the city was expecting more than 50,000 visitors and $160 million dollars in additional revenue. While the entire city of Denver itself can best be described as sprawling, the actual "downtown" part of the city is about 10 city blocks. 50,000 additional people. You do the math...
And it felt like it. On Monday morning, I went down to the 16th Street Mall with my guitar, knowing that this was the best time to cash in on my ability to strum and sing loudly. Stepping out of the lite-rail, I couldn't help but feel a bit homesick for New York City. I had to re-employ my abilities to weave through an extremely large and diverse crowd while holding a guitar case; I never have to do that in Denver.
Busking proved to be the best way to really get to see everything that the DNC had to offer. I saw guys in suits with haircuts that cost no less than $300, followed by an entourage of people in suits with far less expensive cuts. In addition to the police forces from literally every Denver suburb walking around, I could see SUVs with swat-gear-wearing men hanging off the sides cruising around at regular intervals.
As you may have expected, the protests were many. Due to intense security restrictions that meant that any un-credentialed (regular) person couldn't get within 5 blocks of the Pepsi Center and the actual convention, most of the protesting happened either at Civic Center Park (on one end of the Mall) or in the streets of the city itself; this meant that the protests were witnessed by the people, not the politicians. Groups of protestors paraded down the street at least once an hour, each one holding up a huge banner that held their particular issue on it. At one point, a group of about 5 Bible-thumpers began to scream into a megaphone and parade around with signs that told us we were all going to Hell. They were quickly surrounded by swat-team members that seemed unsure of exactly what to do other than just stand there and look threatening.
(Alex Kane, a mutual friend of EDC who stayed at my house while here on assignmetnt, was one of the few journalists in Denver covering only the protests. Check out the articles he wrote, as almost all of the mainstream-media focused only on what was going on inside.)
I played alone for a few hours before being joined by my friend Chris on the djembe. As we jammed along on the sidewalk, all sorts of people came by to record us on either film or video; news crews, tourists, and just plain curious folks all seemed to want to capture the sheer insanity that was this event. At one point, a group of hippies that must have been tripping came up to us and started dancing as if we were the Grateful Dead. It was then, as I looked up and down the street, that I realized that the DNC was just a really big fesitval.
And no festival would be complete without some great merch. Even a week after Obama's final speech, there are still tents and tables set up downtown, making a killing on Democrat-themed t-shirts, buttons, hats, stickers, and yes, even dolls.
Throughout the week, I saw many hilarious and interesting t-shirts. In the true spirit of democracy, I'm asking Ben to start a poll at EDC so that you, the people, can pick the best shirt of Democraroo. (Editor's Note: The poll will be added along with this entry -go to the right-hand column - Ben would also like to point out that Harrison is clearly still channeling the spirit of Skip Champion.) I've narrowed down the choices to three (automatic honorable mention goes to all the Obama shirts that are being made int eh same exact style as the Tupac and Biggie shirts that get sold at every t-shirt store in America...also, I give credit to whoever thought of this). Editor's Note: I actually have a poster with that design - it was issued officially by the Obama Campaign on St. Patrick's Day weekend, and we had them all over our campus. There's one hanging above my laptop as I type.
1. Barackstar: Energizing the Economy
(It managed to combine two of my loves: Obama and energy drinks. I apologize that I was not able to find a picture of the actual shirt, but imagine this one exactly, except with the words BARACKSTAR: Energizing the Economy and Obama's face where the star is.)
2. Brush that dirt off your shoulder
(speaks for itself, really)
3. Obama in the AC/DC logo.
My personal favorite (and the one I bought, as you can see). By the way, this was a gig we did the night before the convention started at a theater on the west side of town. It's interesting to note that the entire rest of the city was pretty much unaffected by the convention; most of Denver feels a lot like a suburb, and this attitude was mostly undisturbed.
(Special thanks to my roommate/band mate/incredible friend Mike Golas for the b&w pictures.)
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When not soaking up the vibe of this city or practicing the guitar, I volunteered at the info desk of the Oxford Hotel, just 3 blocks from the barricade/entrance to the convention. I had the pleasure of working with a very nice lady named Karen, who had already put in a day of work before I came and started. She had the entire city down as far as which celebs were staying where: turns out that the Oxford was host to Al Franken, Richard Dreyfus, and the entire Kennedy family (apparently, she had found out, the master suite was officially unoccupied, which can only mean that ol-Ted himself must have crashed there). At one point during one of our shifts, we debated for about 10 minutes as to whether a man standing on the other side of the room was James Carville. I still think it was...
On the last day of the convention, we were sitting at the desk, scheming of how we could get tickets to see Obama speak at Invesco Field. Just that morning it had been officially announced that Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, and the Yonder Mountain String Band (one of my favorites, and one of the best Colorado-based bands around) were going to be playing, as well. We started dialing through a list of numbers we had been given in case of an "emergency," in the hopes that we could get in touch with someone that could hook us up.
Karen decided to go talk to the hotel staff, while I kept talking to the voicemails of differnet offices. Miraculously, one of the concierges had gotten two passes from someone as a thank-you for a good week of service. Since he was working that night, he gave them to us. We abandoned our post and immediately got on the shuttle to the event.
The rest is really hard to describe in words, so I'll just send you over here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall, the DNC was an incredible experience for everyone who was lucky enough to find themselves a mile high. I'm extremely pleased (both for the city of Denver and for the Democratic Party) that the protestor violence was as low as it was, and that the convention as a whole went off without too much drama. Life in Denver is pretty much back to norma;l; the barricades at UCD are down and we're back to school, and the 16th Street Mall is back to its usual moderate foot-traffic.
Politically, I feel that the DNC was a really huge success for the Democrats. The party-line now seems to be that everyone needs to get behind Obama, simply because we need to have a Democrat in the White House (there were buttons that said "Hillary supporter for Obama. As anyone who even remotely followed the primaries and their aftermath can tell you, tha t pretty much sums it up); it seems as if most of the infighting is now gone, and the party is really unified. Obama's speech definitely did show him as a strong candidate that won't take shit from McCain anymore; it seems as if he's going to win over the independents/stragglers by painting McCain as Bush Part II (or Part III, if you think about it), which is totally logical both from a strategy standpoint and from a, well...., logical standpoint.
Considering the news of the past week (her daughter is pregnant? Really...like...really?) and the actual comradery that the DNC stirred up, I feel confident in Obama to get this thing done. I'm also very curious to see what, if any, party-line ideal emerges from the RNC.
We now return to our regular programming.......
Amazing work, Harrison. If anything else remotely political comes to Denver, be sure to let us know. This actually goes out to all of EDC's readership - if you know of an event heading your way that has any relation to this year's presidential or senate or house or governor's races, feel free to contribute an account of your experiences/thoughts. Hint hint, Columbia students.
All this past summer, Denver had been buzzing about the arrival of the DNC. At first, it was mostly just talk about how to volunteer, good concerts happening because of it, and how careful you needed to be because of the beefed-up police force.
Restaurants downtown started hiring people like mad, anticipating the rush that was no-doubt going to befall them. (Working at an Indian restaurant in the spring/early summer had shown me that Denver is really a city that relies heavily on conventions coming to town to increase business; usually, the restaurant was insanely packed during any kind of event at the Convention Center, yet fairly slow any other time, even on a weekend).
But as the event drew closer, it became increasingly obvious that this wasn't just going to be your average convention of dentists or pharmacists. Just a week before the convention, it was leaked by a reporter (who had just snuck in and started taking pictures) that the Denver Police had built a facility to hold protestors.
A day later, they released a statement that said they had been planning to tell the public. Sure......
I also heard from a friend that the city was not just expecting politicians and protestors, but also a group of business-people very closely associated with politics: prostitutes.
Having signed up to volunteer for the Democratic Party Welcome Committee, I received an email that sent me to a hotel just one block from the 16th Street Mall (an outdoor pedestrian mall that is the heart of downtown. I, like many residents of downtown-Denver, spend a nice chunk of time down here, as there is literally one of every kind of store/theater/restaurant/attraction. I also often play guitar on the sidewalk, as there is nothing requiring you to have a permit to play. More on that later...)
The email said that the city was expecting more than 50,000 visitors and $160 million dollars in additional revenue. While the entire city of Denver itself can best be described as sprawling, the actual "downtown" part of the city is about 10 city blocks. 50,000 additional people. You do the math...
And it felt like it. On Monday morning, I went down to the 16th Street Mall with my guitar, knowing that this was the best time to cash in on my ability to strum and sing loudly. Stepping out of the lite-rail, I couldn't help but feel a bit homesick for New York City. I had to re-employ my abilities to weave through an extremely large and diverse crowd while holding a guitar case; I never have to do that in Denver.
Busking proved to be the best way to really get to see everything that the DNC had to offer. I saw guys in suits with haircuts that cost no less than $300, followed by an entourage of people in suits with far less expensive cuts. In addition to the police forces from literally every Denver suburb walking around, I could see SUVs with swat-gear-wearing men hanging off the sides cruising around at regular intervals.
As you may have expected, the protests were many. Due to intense security restrictions that meant that any un-credentialed (regular) person couldn't get within 5 blocks of the Pepsi Center and the actual convention, most of the protesting happened either at Civic Center Park (on one end of the Mall) or in the streets of the city itself; this meant that the protests were witnessed by the people, not the politicians. Groups of protestors paraded down the street at least once an hour, each one holding up a huge banner that held their particular issue on it. At one point, a group of about 5 Bible-thumpers began to scream into a megaphone and parade around with signs that told us we were all going to Hell. They were quickly surrounded by swat-team members that seemed unsure of exactly what to do other than just stand there and look threatening.
(Alex Kane, a mutual friend of EDC who stayed at my house while here on assignmetnt, was one of the few journalists in Denver covering only the protests. Check out the articles he wrote, as almost all of the mainstream-media focused only on what was going on inside.)
I played alone for a few hours before being joined by my friend Chris on the djembe. As we jammed along on the sidewalk, all sorts of people came by to record us on either film or video; news crews, tourists, and just plain curious folks all seemed to want to capture the sheer insanity that was this event. At one point, a group of hippies that must have been tripping came up to us and started dancing as if we were the Grateful Dead. It was then, as I looked up and down the street, that I realized that the DNC was just a really big fesitval.
And no festival would be complete without some great merch. Even a week after Obama's final speech, there are still tents and tables set up downtown, making a killing on Democrat-themed t-shirts, buttons, hats, stickers, and yes, even dolls.
Throughout the week, I saw many hilarious and interesting t-shirts. In the true spirit of democracy, I'm asking Ben to start a poll at EDC so that you, the people, can pick the best shirt of Democraroo. (Editor's Note: The poll will be added along with this entry -go to the right-hand column - Ben would also like to point out that Harrison is clearly still channeling the spirit of Skip Champion.) I've narrowed down the choices to three (automatic honorable mention goes to all the Obama shirts that are being made int eh same exact style as the Tupac and Biggie shirts that get sold at every t-shirt store in America...also, I give credit to whoever thought of this). Editor's Note: I actually have a poster with that design - it was issued officially by the Obama Campaign on St. Patrick's Day weekend, and we had them all over our campus. There's one hanging above my laptop as I type.
1. Barackstar: Energizing the Economy
(It managed to combine two of my loves: Obama and energy drinks. I apologize that I was not able to find a picture of the actual shirt, but imagine this one exactly, except with the words BARACKSTAR: Energizing the Economy and Obama's face where the star is.)
2. Brush that dirt off your shoulder
(speaks for itself, really)
3. Obama in the AC/DC logo.
My personal favorite (and the one I bought, as you can see). By the way, this was a gig we did the night before the convention started at a theater on the west side of town. It's interesting to note that the entire rest of the city was pretty much unaffected by the convention; most of Denver feels a lot like a suburb, and this attitude was mostly undisturbed.
(Special thanks to my roommate/band mate/incredible friend Mike Golas for the b&w pictures.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When not soaking up the vibe of this city or practicing the guitar, I volunteered at the info desk of the Oxford Hotel, just 3 blocks from the barricade/entrance to the convention. I had the pleasure of working with a very nice lady named Karen, who had already put in a day of work before I came and started. She had the entire city down as far as which celebs were staying where: turns out that the Oxford was host to Al Franken, Richard Dreyfus, and the entire Kennedy family (apparently, she had found out, the master suite was officially unoccupied, which can only mean that ol-Ted himself must have crashed there). At one point during one of our shifts, we debated for about 10 minutes as to whether a man standing on the other side of the room was James Carville. I still think it was...
On the last day of the convention, we were sitting at the desk, scheming of how we could get tickets to see Obama speak at Invesco Field. Just that morning it had been officially announced that Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, and the Yonder Mountain String Band (one of my favorites, and one of the best Colorado-based bands around) were going to be playing, as well. We started dialing through a list of numbers we had been given in case of an "emergency," in the hopes that we could get in touch with someone that could hook us up.
Karen decided to go talk to the hotel staff, while I kept talking to the voicemails of differnet offices. Miraculously, one of the concierges had gotten two passes from someone as a thank-you for a good week of service. Since he was working that night, he gave them to us. We abandoned our post and immediately got on the shuttle to the event.
The rest is really hard to describe in words, so I'll just send you over here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall, the DNC was an incredible experience for everyone who was lucky enough to find themselves a mile high. I'm extremely pleased (both for the city of Denver and for the Democratic Party) that the protestor violence was as low as it was, and that the convention as a whole went off without too much drama. Life in Denver is pretty much back to norma;l; the barricades at UCD are down and we're back to school, and the 16th Street Mall is back to its usual moderate foot-traffic.
Politically, I feel that the DNC was a really huge success for the Democrats. The party-line now seems to be that everyone needs to get behind Obama, simply because we need to have a Democrat in the White House (there were buttons that said "Hillary supporter for Obama. As anyone who even remotely followed the primaries and their aftermath can tell you, tha t pretty much sums it up); it seems as if most of the infighting is now gone, and the party is really unified. Obama's speech definitely did show him as a strong candidate that won't take shit from McCain anymore; it seems as if he's going to win over the independents/stragglers by painting McCain as Bush Part II (or Part III, if you think about it), which is totally logical both from a strategy standpoint and from a, well...., logical standpoint.
Considering the news of the past week (her daughter is pregnant? Really...like...really?) and the actual comradery that the DNC stirred up, I feel confident in Obama to get this thing done. I'm also very curious to see what, if any, party-line ideal emerges from the RNC.
We now return to our regular programming.......
Amazing work, Harrison. If anything else remotely political comes to Denver, be sure to let us know. This actually goes out to all of EDC's readership - if you know of an event heading your way that has any relation to this year's presidential or senate or house or governor's races, feel free to contribute an account of your experiences/thoughts. Hint hint, Columbia students.
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