Cater to the masses

A question. What has:

  • A large crowd standing in long lines;
  • Free “we’re #1” foam fingers and t-shirts being hurled into the merchandise-mad audience;
  • Media coverage, and;
  • Jon Bon Jovi?

If you guessed any Midwestern state fair, or perhaps an auto-racing event in a Southern state, you’re wrong. However, if you thought, “a rally for John Kerry on the Pitt campus,” then, by god, you were right.

Taking advantage of my workplace’s liberal attitude toward liberal events, I took the morning off and, with Arielle, attended.

Security seemed tight at the event, but an assurance from a friendly local firefighters’ union member/crowd control goon that we could slip through the barriers and right into the event area showed us otherwise. I think there may still be people standing in line waiting to get inside.

Had there been beer tents, I could have sworn we were at a rock concert. The crowd was packed shoulder-to-shoulder while a hot (for once) sun beat down. However, any resemblance to a rock concert waned with the emergence of past football heroes and local and state politicos who, mercifully, kept their introductory remarks short. Paradoxically, the rock concert vibe failed to revive itself when Mr. Rock-and-Roll himself, Jon Bon Jovi took the stage, acoustic guitar in hand and fiddle player in tow.

Things seemed promising as he led things off with an Elvis Costello tune, What’s So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding, but the crowd (as did I) seemed to lose interest as the acoustic barrage continued. Not even a rousing around-the-campfire version of Livin’ on a Prayer could rile the crowd up. I could see the masses wanting to sing along to the ultra-singable chorus, but without Ritchie Sambora and the power chords, the energy just wasn’t there.

JBJ, after his three song set, reminded us all to vote (duh) and then introduced Theresa Heinz-Kerry, whose speech was actually quite thoughtful and genuine. I’d probably vote for her.

After suffering through the Heinz boys (one of whom is good at impressions, though) and Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge, our presence was finally graced by the man of the hour himself.

Kerry spoke for about a half-hour, and held forth on probably a half-dozen or so topics. Predictably, the environment and education were popular issues with the crowd. No mention of the gay marriage issue, though, which was surprising given the makeup of the crowd.

Kerry came off as quite articulate and personable, although one line of his – “God gave the United States only about 3% of the world’s oil” – seemed kind of out and place and absurd. It’s an unfortunate fact of geography, John, not the fault of any omnipotent superpower.

It was a good experience to witness firsthand an event like this. Foam fingers, rock stars, and all. While I remain cynical of the spectacle of it all, I do feel that in this case, the ends justify the means.

April 16 2004