WOODSTOCK, NY — Music and political activism shared the stage at Colony Woodstock on Sunday as Democracy Rocks 2 brought together nationally recognized musicians, local performers, political candidates and grassroots organizers for an afternoon centered on protecting democracy and encouraging political participation.
Organized by Indivisible Hurley-Woodstock, the second annual benefit featured Natalie Merchant, Gail Ann Dorsey, Kate Pierson, Professor Louie & The Crowmatix, Jenna Nicholls, Marc Black and The Bob Cats. Performers donated their time and talent to support pro-democracy organizing and Ulster Rapid Response, while political speakers encouraged those gathered to translate concerns about the direction of the country into grassroots action.
Indivisible Hurley-Woodstock founder Zahava Wilson said the event grew from the anxiety and dissatisfaction that followed Donald Trump’s return to the presidency and a desire to turn those feelings into participation. “We wanted something that would gather people, and energize people, and inspire them to do something,” Wilson said. She estimated that nearly 800 people purchased tickets for last year’s inaugural Democracy Rocks benefit.
That sense of purpose was apparent throughout Colony’s garden, where political and community organizations staffed information tables while music filled the grounds. Wilson thanked Colony owners Lex and Neil Howard and the venue staff for helping make the afternoon possible before telling the audience, “Democracy does not defend itself. We’re here to stand together, to reject authoritarianism, and to protect the rights, dignity, and freedom of every person in this country.”
The Bob Cats opened the afternoon as the audience settled around the garden, picnic tables and stage. Their set closed shortly before 4 p.m. with a Bob Dylan-inspired rendition of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”
Then the weather began writing its own part of the program.
The first drops started falling as The Bob Cats finished their set. What initially appeared likely to be a passing shower became a light but persistent rain, with additional bands moving through during the remaining performances and political speeches. Umbrellas opened throughout the garden as audience members moved between tables, tents and the area surrounding the stage.
Through the changing conditions, the Colony team did an impressive job keeping an ambitious program moving. With numerous musicians, speakers and stage changes scheduled throughout the afternoon and evening, the staff adapted to the weather and kept the performances flowing with remarkably little disruption.
One of the afternoon’s most anticipated appearances came from Natalie Merchant, whose set brought a large audience toward the stage despite the increasingly uncertain skies. Reggie Harris provided supporting vocals throughout Merchant’s performance, including “Carnival,” while Gail Ann Dorsey joined Merchant for “Break Your Heart” before later returning to perform her own set.
Merchant closed with “Kind & Generous,” an especially fitting selection for an event made possible in large part by musicians donating their performances to organizations and causes they support.
While music provided the gathering point, political speakers repeatedly returned to the idea that concern alone is insufficient without participation.
Wilson framed the afternoon as an opportunity to remind people that they are not isolated in their political concerns. She pointed to grassroots organizing and encouraged those attending to visit the participating organizations, register to vote and become involved beyond the concert itself.
Michele Frazier, Democratic candidate for New York State Senate District 51, carried that message further. Drawing upon her travels throughout the seven-county district, which includes Delaware County, Frazier spoke about encountering people who feel discouraged, weighed down and powerless amid the current political climate.
Rather than waiting for a political leader to rescue them, Frazier urged those gathered to recognize their own ability to create change. She encouraged supporters to knock on doors, engage with neighbors, including people with different political views, bring friends to the polls and become personally involved in building the political movement they want to see.
By then, the rain had provided Frazier with an irresistible visual metaphor.
Looking across a garden filled with umbrellas and individual drops of water falling around the audience, Frazier compared the hoped-for political “blue wave” to millions of individual drops coming together. A wave, in her telling, does not simply appear. It is created through individual participation.
New York State Sen. Michelle Hinchey, representing the 41st Senate District, shifted the political discussion toward policy and November’s elections. Hinchey spoke in support of single-payer health care, changes to New York’s energy system, improvements in education, economic opportunity and protections intended to ensure equal rights.
“We have a responsibility to make sure up and down the ballot, we are electing Democrats who are fighting for these principles,” Hinchey told the audience. Extending that responsibility beyond high-profile federal and statewide contests to county legislatures and town boards, she added, “This is where the work starts.”
As the afternoon moved into evening, the persistence of the rain gradually thinned what had been a substantial crowd. By approximately 6:30 p.m., many attendees had departed in search of drier surroundings, but a determined group remained.
Kate Pierson took the stage around 6:15 p.m. before an audience considerably wetter and smaller than the one that had filled the garden earlier. Those who stayed seemed determined to accept the conditions as part of the experience, gathering beneath umbrellas and near the stage as the program continued.
There was an unintended appropriateness to the scene. Democracy Rocks 2 was organized around the belief that political participation requires persistence, particularly when circumstances are discouraging or uncomfortable. Sunday’s weather offered a considerably more literal test of that idea.
The musicians kept playing. The political speakers kept speaking. Colony’s staff kept the program moving. And the audience members who remained simply opened their umbrellas and stayed.
Frazier had already found the afternoon’s metaphor falling from the sky. A political wave, she argued, begins with individual drops and grows only when enough of them come together.
At Colony on Sunday, plenty of those drops kept falling. And plenty of people stayed.
State Senate candidate Michelle Frazier (51st District)
Kate Pierson of the B-52’s at The Colony on Sunday
The Founder and Committee Leader of Indivisible Hurley-Woodstock with Natalie Merchant formerly with the indie rock band 10,000 Maniacs.
