Report: Edwards booed at Mellencamp concert in Des Moines

Friday, November 09, 2007
Edwards @ John Mellencamp concert

It was 7 p.m. on a Friday night in Des Moines and I was driving to meet friends L, M and S at Wells Fargo Arena where I would see one of my favorite bands, Los Lobos, open for John Mellencamp. The sound of my phone ringing pierced the interior of my car. It was the Edwards campaign. I was advised that John Edwards might appear on stage with Mellencamp. So, after my brief interlude of enjoyment of all that is Los Lobos, it was back to work typing on the blackberry. Here is what transpired, according to my notes:

<SNIP>

The band members left the stage at the conclusion of song number four. Mellencamp grabbed an accoustic guitar and started talking with the crowd. He talked about how "his generation" had failed in doing many of the things they'd set out to do -- like legalizing marijuana. Mellencamp then told the crowd the last time he'd smoked was in 1972. Mellencamp next asked the crowd about "The Golden Rule" and after he said, "Do unto others," the crowd responded with the rest of it. Mellencamp, standing alone on stage with his guitar, then launched into Tough It Out and Be the Best You Can followed by Jesus Can You Give Me a Ride Back Home? and another song about youth and love. The crowd erupted as he started Small Town and sang the lyrics as though Wells Fargo Arena were one of those sing-along piano bars.

It's at this point Mellencamp gestures and John Edwards walks on stage. After a few cheers boos overtake the hall. "I've been in your small towns," Edwards said as Mellencamp stepped aside to give Edwards a place behind the microphone. "...You didn't come here to listen to me," Edwards continues as he winds down with a "thank you," waves and walks to the darkened edge of the stage.

The crowd is mostly booing at this point. "I came for a concert," one man behind me yelled. "Refund. Refund," another chanted a few rows back. One person in the crowd made this observation: "Are they booing Edwards specifically or booing because they don't like politics?" Mellencamp tells the crowd he's "had a lot of fun with that guy," and begins playing his guitar and singing Small Town again. The crowd slowly begins to sing along again. Edwards stood on the darkened edge of the stage until the song was over, then exited. Mellencamp didn't say anything at the song's end, and there was a swell of chatter among the audience members. Mellencamp then launched into a rehash of Farm Aid -- mentioning Willie Nelson and others involved -- and then the music began again -- with the full band -- by about 9:36 p.m. (according to my Blackberry).

Mellencamp a little while later talked about the song he wrote in response to the Jena, Louisiana, case, and offered up a two-word expletive to lambaste that city's mayor, who had criticized the song. Mellencamp's final number was "Authority."

http://learfield.typepad.com/radioiowa/2007/11/edwards-john-me.html

Duh!

"Edwards stood on the darkened edge of the stage until the song was over, then exited."

Johnny, your song is over. You just havn't noticed yet.

How do you know the people who boo'd were not Republican or Hillary supporters?

DSB

:popcorn:

He loves Mellencamp since his liberal college days (when I met him), but has since turned to the Dark Side. It's the same thing with Springsteen - he loves the music, although bitches about politics being brought in. (Funny thing, though, he loved Springsteen when he was in college, at the height Springsteen's Born in the USA album, and if THAT album wasn't political, I guess I don't know what constitutes political music. :crazy: ) Anyway, my acquaintance would go to a Mellencamp in concert in a heartbeat.

Booing the 2007 Edwards?

Politely gave the audience what they came for - music. Who is this dumb-ass blogger that the OP quoted anyway?

If, what you say is true, they he "Knew the crowd wanted music not politics."

As an Edwards supporter, that would have been a nice treat for me, but I certainly understand the message they were sending to Mellencamp...."not on my nickel" :D

They would have sent the same message to any candidate that appeared.

other candidates want to pile on shit cause it makes them feel mo' better.

near-sellout crowd, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards made a cameo appearance at John Mellencamp's concert Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena.

Edwards appeared gracious yet somewhat uncomfortable as Mellencamp introduced him with an acoustic version of his hit song "Small Town" before waving Edwards to the microphone. The former North Carolina senator stayed on stage for little more than a minute, cognizant that fans didn't purchase $100 tickets for a stump speech ...

Mellencamp ... called Edwards a friend he had known for the past seven or eight years ... "Guys that run for president aren't as stiff as you think they are," he said. "They're pretty fun guys."

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071110/NEWS/711100339/-1/RSS22

are not very fucking polite.

If he wants to make political statements or bring out a candidate, he can. It looks as though some of you are acting the same way the neo cons did when Natalie Maines spoke poiltics. SHUT UP AND SING. 2 wrongs don't make a right.

plenty of that.

Concert tickets are very expensive. I know I wouldn't like it if the concert were interrupted to allow a campaign speech by anyone.
Remember according to this article he was originally cheered. Boos started after he started talking.

it lasted 30 seconds tops and JRE did not talk about politics AT ALL.

The booing started as soon as Edwards came up.

It was very rude and disrespectful. What if Mellencamp had introduced a friend who is a sports star? Would it have been ok to boo because you support a different team?

I paid a huge amount of money to have a fan club seat on the floor. For the short, short period Edwards was on stage it was not a disruption to my enjoyment of the concert - the booing from ignorant loudmouths was.

by him and how awkward it must have been to get a huge dose of humble pie at a rock concert of all things. Ummm, John, I don't think people at a rock concert came to hear you preach. Looks like Edwards isn't nearly as popular in Iowa as he thinks he is. Like didn't he realize that more than a handful of Repukes might be in attendance, let alone the fact that he's not all that popular with Democrats either? Gheeesh

the legalization of marijuana, or maybe they just didn't want politics intruding on their concert. For whatever reasons, I saw it on the news, and it was loud booing.

Not!

It's a good thing that Edwards didn't scream maniacally like the angry and deranged Dr. Dean.
I have no doubts that there were some boos. But this is a total non story -- which almost guarantees that it will suck all the oxygen out of a lot of legitimate stories and become the greatest Pulitzer caliber scoop since someone got the lowdown on Edwards' haircut. Welcome to CorporateMediaWorld!

I don't believe a majority booed him.

I don't believe most people are raised that way.

That they were there to hear Mellencamp does not preclude some or many of them from welcoming Edwards and -- god forbid -- listening to hs brief and cordial greeting.

appearing without approval.

I would believe that to be the case no matter who the candidate was......none of them would appear anywhere by force.


I also believe those audience members who were vocal would have been just as vocal no matter who the candidate was.


:hi:

It appears to support your instincts on this pretty well.

:hi:

Bringing a politician to a rock concert does not work.

Anybody else would have gotten just as bad a reception. And Mellencamp would've been booed just as much for talking about how Jesus was his personal savior, or about Scientology, or whatever. The crowd didn't come to hear religion, either. It came for a concert and a concert was all it wanted. It wanted nobody claiming to have a solution to its problems, on this earth or in the next--just a few hours of enjoying an escape from them.

The only time it's good to deliver a political message to people is at a political rally. There, they expect to hear politics and it's what they came for. Anything else is gravy. Same with religion. Confine it to religious rallies and church, and you will never go wrong.

Mellencamp broke that fundamental rule. Even when Springsteen used to talk to his audiences about political situations in his concerts in the early days, he didn't come out in support of any one candidate. He'd just tell them in essence to look out for your ass, because a lot of politicians won't. And he goes to the rallies--he doesn't try to make his concerts into a rally.

and the audience went crazy over him.

...

"I've got a friend that I've had for about the last seven or eight years," Mellencamp said, "and this guy's from a small town and just so happens to be running for president of the United States. Is John back there? Come on up here."

"Ladies and gentlemen," Mellencamp continued, "John Edwards has come to see the show!"

Edwards' appearance was met with a significant number of booes, as well as cheers.

Mellencamp gestured for Edwards to say a few words, at which point Edwards shrugged as if to say 'why not?'

"The good news is," Edwards began, "I've been in your small towns, born and raised in a small town. I've been all over your state in small towns."

"And you didn't come to listen to me," Edwards continued, "so I'm not singing. Thank you for being here. Have a wonderful night. Thank you all very much."

With that, he bent over to shake a few hands and then stood on stage in the dark listening to Mellencamp finish the song for another minute or two before heading out.
...

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

...Only they mention a significant number of boos generally and not the particular "heckles" hurled.

CNN makes it sound like it was cheers and boos and that Edwards decided not to stay on for long because there were some boos.

Too bad there isn't a video on YouTube so that we can all decide for ourselves how to interpret this.

I searched youtube and nothing yet.

the announcer had to talk over the clip...as if they were worried that without mediating reallity, viewers wouldn't interpret it the way they wanted it interpreted.

but that was not a good idea. People tend to assume that anytime you let a politician speak, he's going to make a stump speech. Especially when he immediately tries to establish rapport with the audience ("I've been in your small towns, born and raised in a small town..."). The boos quickly begin.

Imagine there was some country singer you really liked, even if you don't ordinarily like country music that much, and you go to that person's concert. All of a sudden the singer stops and says "Look who's here tonight! Pat Robertson! Pat, come on up!"

Instant buzzkill.

And the crowd didn't take too kindly to his appearance at all.

I assure you, Edwards has met much worse crowds in his jury trials. IMO, Hillary would have cackled. IMO, Obama would have hemmed and hawed and acted very embarrassed. Edwards politely accepts the inevitable (by making his statement short), acknowledges the feelings of those who are booing (by saying "you didn't come to listen to me") and quietly leaves. That's what a true professional and a humble person does in such a situation.

Bravo, Edwards.

No one succeeds all the time. No one is greeted with cheers at every turn. It isn't what happens to you, it is how you deal with what happens to you that counts.

Bravo, Edwards.

happened, you don't have to hear for yourself, just believe what we're saying.

The corporomedia is in full swing attack mode on those who say they won't keep filling their corporate coffers, it seems. MKJ

nt

because he believes in edwards and what he stands for...i guess he does`t have the right to express his views about the way he stands in this this country and the next election...funny i thought people understood that what john was all about. oh well there are rude people in every crowd.

Also, regarding hecklers in a concert audience, it's lucky for those Iowans there in the audience that both John Mellencamp and John Edwards have far better manners than Lou Reed when it comes to hecklers.

Reed does not tolerate them at all and his on-stage confrontational remarks in response to heckling are, uh, colorful.

IMO, he should've stayed off that particular stage for his own good, considering what damage it might do to his ego with all the booing that he should have known could be coming his way.

Now if Obama had come on stage, I think the place would've erupted into a standing O.

He'd probably get even more boos.

Believe me, Edwards has suffered far worse than a bruised ego in his many court appearances. What is a crowd of boos compared to the wrath of a judge. Edwards handled this very well.

. . .seriously, Democrats don't mind a mixture of pop culture and politics. Also, I think its only a few hard core partisan Democrats who would boo another Democrat who is not their favored candidate.

It wasn't like he was boo'd at a totally Democratic event.

Even GW would be cheered (by a few people) at a similar event.

I doubt Edwards is all the offensive to any Democrat that they would boo him. I'm backing Obama and Hillary is my 2nd choice but I would have cheered Edwards.

who did some gigs for the Kerry/Edwards campaign in 2004.

I caught Kerry's last-week appearance in Tampa, and the Goo Goo Dolls appeared to be more than just on task that evening. They were imbued with some kind of cosmic force. I would describe their performance as dangerously beautiful.

Ok.

That's all I wanted to say.

Unless you're calling the overwhelming majority of our party Republicans?

There was a huge crowd at the outdoor rally in downtown Cleveland, but it was obvious to those of us in the crowd who were political that most of the people there wanted to hear Springsteen.

When Kerry spoke, everyone around me grumbled and complained about the political speeches, talking all the way through. It was obvious they didn't care to hear speeches. It got so bad I finally told a couple of the more vocal ones to quiet down. When they argued back about not being able to hear Springsteen I politely reminded them this was a political rally, not a rock concert and if they didn't want to listen to the speech, they should at least shut up so others could hear it. One lady kept complaining saying she was important and had a VIP pass - I told her "we all have one in this section and this is a political rally, so please be quiet".

Many in the audience were rude and obnoxious to those of us who were there to support Kerry and the Dems. They just thought it was a free concert for Springsteen.Lots of eyes rolling and grumbling as we cheered on the Dem candidates.

I don't like going to rallies where rock stars participate. No offense to the musicians, but most of the people who show up only want to hear music.

they weren't getting enough Bruce? Geez.

Americans are indeed the most over-entertained, under-informed, immature population of people on the face of the earth.

:puke:

I don't like going to those kinds of rallies. Idiots abound.

I think Edwards is a phony, but that's another issue.

Clinton Booed Again by Hard Left at Progressive Conference

Boos For Richardson Demonstrate Division Between Bloggers and Others on Economic Policy

Any candidate who HASN'T ever been booed is too milquetoast.

Importantly, Edwards wasn't being booed by liberals or Democrats.

This is just plain silly. People went to a concert, not to hear a politician. So they booed. So what. The media is so quick to spin every story and I'm starting to wonder how many people, even here at DU, so quickly buy into it. The media has spun every single story that seem to go on for days around here. Have we all been so overtaken by the slime of politics that we've all lost our ability to look past media and political manipulation and really think for ourselves?

This story .. or non story.. has nothing at all to do with John Edwards or what he represents as a presidential candidate. Obama did not dis our generation or Tom Hayden, for crissakes. He was warning against the same kind of crap that had Kerry wrapped up in Vietnam instead of talking about the really MAJOR issues facing the nation right then and there in 2004.

Beyond the media hype and political game-playing, there are real records out there about all of the candidates. Instead of actually REALLY digging into the information of each candidate's websites, searching out answers to important questions about who we believe can best get us out of this mess the last 7 years caused, too many of us are jumping on manipulated stories, and once again, wasting too much time being led by the nose into focusing on the wrong things.

I don't need to tell anyone here that most of what is on the news and written by most of the media is absolute bull. DU is filled with some of the most informed people in cyberspace. It's why I first started coming here back in 2003, I think. Lately I see too many jumping on skewed facts and political hit-jobs and being unduly influenced by them. Come on, y'all. We're smarter than that.

And for the record, this is not to slam this particular OP at all... just an observation from seeing some of the things being posted here for some time now. I just see a trend that is a bit troublesome.

:kick:

I don't like the media for harping on all the wrong things either, but this is Primary season, it's a concert in Iowa, the first Primary state and a very important one. Edwards knew the media would be all over this, only he didn't know how unpopular his little "visit" on stage would be, which tells me more about Edwards' judgment than it does about the media.

People want to hear the songs, not listen to a politician give a stump speech.

It depends on who it is and how they were acknowledged at the concert. For example, if Mellencamp pointed out Edwards as just being in attendence somewhere in the crowd and pointed him out for a brief second or two, he might have only gotten 2/3 of the boos he got by going on stage.

OTOH, if Obama or the Goddess of Peace was pointed out (not on stage but in the seats), it would've brought the roof down, rock stars that they are themselves.

I want to see for myself.

In 2003, for promoting the Iraq Invasion at the California Democratic Convention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g238i7O529o&NR=1

And an apology is all it takes, huh?

Karl Rove is pleased

The day is still young

Do ya think he doesn't like Edwards??? geee.... I wonder.

was gracious and showed class.

I understand the "we're here for music/not politcs" feeling, but wouldn't it have been kinder to just let the guy speak for 45 seconds or whatever than behave so disrespectfully?

I don't particularly like John Edwards, but I think every human being deserves respect. We're all in this life together, with the exceptions of Bush and Cheney.

:hi:

Edit to add - from one friend to another, I believe the correct spelling is moran. Don't want you to reflect poorly on your peers.

Second of all, who the hell do you think you are to be calling anyone on this board a moron, Mr or Ms 3 posts knownothing.

:headbang:

Wish I'd be there. I'd been cheering Edwards all of the way. Mellencamp was in my town last weekend, and if JRE had shown up, he would not have been booed. He would have been welcomed since we don't see many candidates where I live.

I guess Iowans are a bit tired of the political season.

...lacking in vocabulary skills. Be nice or you might get hit with a bunch of commas.

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!! :hi:

And, as much as I like some of his stuff, I'll bet his audience is about 50% gun-totin' rednecks ~ no offense to any gun-totin' rednecks here.

So, no surprise there.

But I still think we've got it right on part of the audience.

I once suggested a Mellencamp song for a campaign and was told he was a Republican.

Here's a cool Mellencamp quote I just found:

"My mother campaigned for Bobby Kennedy. I was surrounded by Democrats. And I don't understand, in this day and age -- most people who are Republicans, they're not rich enough to be Republicans! I don't get it. My best friend is a Republican. He and I vowed a couple months ago never to talk about politics again. He's just a normal guy with a normal job and I've known him since I was 5 years old. But I just said to him, "Man, you don't have enough money to be a Republican. How can you afford this?""

Many of his songs have very liberal messages. His recently released song "Freedom's Road" viciously attacks the Iraq war.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XFWm7Xiz3U

but it sounds like they were either Republicans, high, drunk, or apolitical and don't want to be bothered with thinking about an election.

Even if you're there for a concert and not a "campaign speech," (which it didn't sound like at all, according to CNN's account) I would think someone who was neutral would be polite and put up with a few minutes of a politician talking (unless, in my case, it was a Republican talking--depending on who it was, I might boo too).

Holy crap! The man invited Edwards.

Invited.

People are so fucking self-centered.

During the first Gulf War, Willie, Waylon, Johnny, and Kris toured as the Highwaymen. Willie, Waylon, and Kris were anti-war, Johnny was for. They all played together and they all got their turn. Kris did an anti-war song with Willie and Waylon and Johnny stepped off the stage. This was in San Francisco, mind you, so the reception was wildly enthusiastic. Then Johnny had his turn with his pro-war tune. The others walked off the stage and it was just Johnny and the American flag up there. And no-one booed. In San Francisco.

Why blame Edwards for a few, poor, ignorant SOBS?

the booing was minimal,(and some were calling 'music') the cheering was pronounced, and it was clear Mellencamp likes Edwards.

but that report is just from a music lover, not a paid pundit, so it must be wrong.

Mellencamp is a liberal playing "heartland" music about red state values. What does he expect? After all this time, I'm not sure he realize who his audience is yet.

So rural "heartland" themes and values are automatically pro-Puke in your eyes? :eyes: I get sick of urbanites, especially ones that are fellow liberals, bash us folks out here in the boonies as knuckle-dragging troglodytes.

most people in this country couldn't care less about politics. Shame on them too. Its that kind of attitude that has gotten us into the shape we are in. The ME generation in overdrive.

I know they have a monopoly on sports and local radio news around here(Iowa). So please take this with a grain of salt. Our range of media here is moderate right(NPR/IPR) to the very hard right. For anything lefty we go to stream online.