Musicians Drive Democracy
From Kristy Kruger...
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Greetings Fellow Musicians!
My name is Kristy Kruger and I am a singer/songwriter from Dallas, Texas. I wanted to tell you all about something I began doing at my shows recently and something I feel every musician concerned with the current state of affairs should do at their shows too.
Last night here in Dallas, I began handing out voter registration forms at my shows. I offered to drop the voter registration forms off to the post office to anyone who would fill out the form that night. I thought after the show: What if every concerned musician in every genre began doing this at their shows? What if every single little songwriter or punk band, in every single big or little city playing to 10 or 15 people at a coffeehouse twice a month did this at their shows? Even if you sign just one person up, it could make a big difference if musicians everywhere did this.
We forget sometimes that as musicians we have a more personal connection with strangers and can greatly affect politics as we have a platform. Some of the strangers we play for greatly admire our music and therefore may be more willing to hear the things that are important to us. They are more likely to register to vote with us than a stranger standing outside a grocery store. And, of course, we don't know which way they will vote, but the truth is, we are signing up members of our society that support art and independent music. Sounds to me like these are just the types of people we need voting this election year.
Please don't take your platform for granted. We have five months. Please share this email with all your fellow musicians and other performing artists. I truly feel if I could spread this to musicians everywhere we could have a huge impact.
Interested? Here's what to do...Pick up stacks of voter registration cards. They may be available at the post office or in the state of Texas, you can call: 800-252-VOTE for more info. Find out the zip code for your county, as you will need to fill that information out in order to mail the form. (If you are a traveling musician, visit www.fec.gov/votregis/vr.html here you can retrieve a national mail voter registration form that allows people to register from any state. Read carefully though, they must be original copies printed from your computer and those you will have to spring for the postage. But maybe there is a way you can order those form and perhaps bypass the postage) Then, offer fans free samplers if they register to vote that night. (maybe burn a CDR with one or two songs on it, put your web site on there too...perhaps they will buy your album or come to more shows if they walk away with something to listen to.) Offer free posters, stickers or perhaps at the end of the night, raffle away a CD or one of your drink tickets to all the newly registered voters. Have fun with it. Applaud people and announce their names when they've registered. If you feel comfortable, tell them why you feel it is important for them to vote and what your concerns are. If this makes you scared, then just ask them to register, a truly bi-partisan request! Drop them off at the post office the next day. There is no postage necessary for voter registration forms! Do this at all your shows. Let's start a revolution!
Thanks for your time and all you do!
Kristy Kruger
www.kristykruger.com
