Photo by Dean Budnick
Nov. 6, 2018 is the next national Election Day, and while midterm elections have a historically low voter turnout, entrepreneur Emily White has devised a way to get young voters not only out to the polls, but to get them into a concert for free.
By enlisting promoters, venues, artists and managers, White has created the #iVoted initiative with the support of Mike Luba of Madison House and Wilco multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone. All fans have to do is show a participating venue a photo of themselves outside their local polling place and they can get into a show for free.
The current list of participating venues includes Irving Plaza, The Gramercy Theatre, Brooklyn Bowl and Warsaw in New York, as well as Stubb’s, Scoot Inn, and Emo’s in Austin, Tx. Motorco in Durham, NC, Downtown Artery in Ft. Collins, Colo. and The Black Box in Denver have also joined the cause. Florida’s Tampa Theatre also recently joined.
The list of venues is growing every day, and Sansone explains that he’s happy to support this worthy cause in whatever way he can. As an official #iVoted spokesman, he knows the importance of getting involved on every level.
“I certainly don’t profess to understand all the ins and outs of how our government is run,” he says. “But I’m learning more and I think that we have to encourage people to understand the process more and to get involved—local elections, state elections, our congressional representatives, all of that. People need to know that they have a voice in making those decisions.”
We caught up with Sansone recently to discuss #iVoted, meeting a young Barack Obama and finding gigs in Nashville grocery stores.
Tell me a little bit about the iVoted initiative and what you’re working on and what your role in this whole thing is?
Mostly my role is just being a supporter for Emily and what she’s doing. Really it’s her baby and it’s her idea, but I’m just helping her spread the word about it and connecting her with some promoters that I know and basically just flying the flag for it. I think it’s an incredible idea and being able to marry the music world with political involvement for anyone really, but especially for younger voters, is super important right now just in our world.
Emily and I have been working together for several years now. She’s such a go-getter, such a motivated person with big ideas and the skills to put them in motion. She’s helped me in all kinds of projects that I’ve worked on immensely. She is the manager of my band the Autumn Defense and she was also managing the project that I produced, a young band from Chicago that were called the Future Monarchs. So, anything I can do to help her with this, I’m down for the cause.
I’m kind of curious, on a more personal level, what were your first engagements in the political process? Have you always had an interest in this type of activism?
Well, yeah. I mean, I would say, I think the first presidential election that I voted in was back in the 90’s for Clinton. And I just remember being very excited at that time to be able to participate and feel like it was making a difference. The energy at that time of there being a movement of young people getting involved in the political process.
I’ve always been wanting to feel that energy, hoping to feel that energy. And with what’s happening in the world right now it’s obviously super important that young people get involved. I think it’s gonna make all the difference in these upcoming elections.
You kind of mentioned what’s happening in the world right now. And I kind of wanted to follow up on that because Wilco isn’t an overtly political band, yet we live in increasingly politicized times. So do you feel like the current political climate is drawing more artists and musicians into that type of conversation?
For sure. We don’t have any choice. I think a certain amount of non-involvement and just laziness has gotten us where we are right now. I think that’s become obvious. Watching what happened with the energy surrounding the Sanders campaign was super inspirational. Just to watch a candidate like him go from such a modest beginning in his campaign, and see the numbers of people he was getting out at his events right up to the end, was just incredible. I think we’re gonna see that again. I hope. I think that’s what the #iVotes initiative is about. Just trying to harness that energy any way we can.
Statistically speaking, for a lot of younger people who are going to be participating in #iVoted, this is going to be a new experience. Why is it important to be thinking ahead to the midterm elections and then going out to vote on November 6th?
Getting involved in the midterms and getting the people in-office to represent us on that level is just as powerful, if not more powerful, than that one vote that we do every four years for the presidential election.
You’re right. A lot of the younger voters especially don’t even really understand that. I certainly don’t profess to understand all the ins and outs of how our government is run, but I’m learning more and I think that we have to encourage people to understand the process more and to get involved—local elections, state elections, our congressional representatives, all of that. People need to know that they have a voice in making those decisions.
Are there any particular musicians or artists, past or present, that you admire when it comes to political activism and engagement?
That’s a good question. I think that certainly Willie Nelson and Neil Young. We’ve played Farm Aid and it was this great experience. Certainly if you look back, John Lennon’s is a big inspiration as far as just making the connection between pop music and a political passion and finding a way to marry those things. I think he certainly stands as one of the giants of that.
You mentioned Farm Aid and how you guys played that [in 2009]. Tell me a little bit more about that experience. It seems like the energy there is just so fantastic.
One thing that was pretty amazing about that experience was that was the first time we met Barack Obama. He introduced us onstage, actually. He was still senator, he hadn’t announced that he was gonna run at that point. So that was an incredible experience just feeling that energy of people coming together for a common cause, for common values, and putting that energy into the universe. It’s just really, really inspirational and it’s a great memory. And I think we did it again, we also did it in 2009, I believe. I’m proud to be part of that movement and to be part of a band that’s thought of in that arena.
What was that like, meeting Barack Obama and especially so early in his tenure?
It was pretty amazing, even just being around him for a few minutes. He came to our dressing room to meet us and say hello before our set and before he introduced us. Just being around him for a little bit, I knew he was gonna do big things. There was just no doubt about it. I kind of walked away from that experience thinking, “That guy’s gonna be president.” [Laughs]
That’s awesome. Wilco is currently on a bit of a touring hiatus. Other than this political activism, how are you spending your time? Tell me about what you’re doing with your 2018.
2018 I think is already shaping up to be a pretty busy year. I have some artists—some that need producing and some artists that I’m gonna continue to work with. There’s an album coming out—the digital version came out back in September, but an expanded vinyl version is coming out in the spring—of an artist named Linda Perhacs that I co-produced with another producer named Fernando Perdomo. And we also produced a record with Linda Perhacs called I’m a Harmony. I’m really proud of that and happy to see it come out.
I’m working with my band Autumn Defense. Hopefully. we’re gonna be working on some new music, maybe doing a little bit of touring with that band. I moved to Nashville a couple of years ago, so it’s been great to be part of the Nashville musical community, which is very vibrant right now. So yeah, I’m just kind of doing all the things that I do. A lot of studio time.
Have you noticed any big differences from moving from Chicago to Nashville? Have you found any new inspirations there?
Yeah, well, it’s kind of constant inspiration here. There’s just music everywhere. I’ve been sort of joking about it, but it’s really a truth that I’ve gotten two really great studio gigs by just running into people at the grocery store here. I ran into Robyn Hitchcock, who I’m a big fan of, and we’ve become friends. I worked with him on his last record, mostly because I kept running into him at the Whole Foods store here and he asked me to come over and sing on his record, which came out this past year.
And then a duo called the Milk Carton Kids. Great, great artists. Kenneth [Pattengale] from that band lives here in Nashville and I ran into him at the same grocery store and in that conversation he invited me to play on their new record. So I just gotta start hanging out at the grocery store every day, I think.
