Bein' Green

So as has already been noted on here (that was fast!), I performed at the Green Party convention in Milwaukee, and Kenny was on him some C-Span. Afterward people kept asking me, "Have you ever been on national TV before?" Well, no. Once I did live TV at the CBS affiliate here in Madison, and it was the only time in my life I ever got stage fright. But Saturday at the Midwest Airlines Center, I was cool as a big green cuke.

You might wonder why I was there. The story is that my friend Adam Benedetto, who recently ran on the Green Party ticket for Dane County (Wisc.) sheriff, called and asked me to appear. Adam (who did substantially better in his race than anyone expected him to) was in charge of organizing the convention, and after some sort of snafu involving Michelle Shocked, he got in touch with me. I hesitated--I'd describe my politics as somewhere left of Kerry but somewhere right of Nader, who I think is unstable--but after much thought and consultation, I decided: why the hell not? So down I-94 to Milwaukee I went.

I was a little panicky as I rolled in, because the massive Summerfest music extravaganza is going on in Milwaukee, and I thought downtown would be tricky to navigate. As it happened, downtown Milwaukee was as subdued as it always is when I am there, and I had no trouble parking and finding the convention center.

I came thinking I would play a whole set, at least half an hour, but when I saw the schedule, I saw I was slotted to play for three minutes. The organizers I talked to seemed a little mortified about this and made frantic calls to Adam, but I figured anything would be fine. I dropped off my stuff and began strolling around Milwaukee.

Milwaukee and Madison are very different. I've found that when I walk around downtown Madison before a show and am duded out in cowboy suit and hat, people studiously ignore me, or perhaps peek at me out of the corner of their eye--part of that famous Wisconsin reserve. In downtown Milwaukee, though, I created quite a stir. People yelled and honked and waved and complimented my hat. I smiled and waved back. I grabbed a bite to eat, then headed back to the convention center.

I settled in for the meeting, and I learned that nominating conventions are as dull in person as they are on TV. Actually, many of the talks were interesting, but there were an awful lot of them. I did get excited about the appearance of Frank Ziedler, 92, the former Socialist mayor of Milwaukee. He gave a great speech and then sat down right in front of me.

Finally the nominees spoke: Pat LaMarche, the vice-presidential candidate, talked mostly about ballot access, and prez nominee David Cobb gave a fiery speech about this and that. Actually, I didn't pay much attention to his speech, because I was due to perform right after him and was busy with a technical matter: the battery for my guitar's pickup had come loose from its mount, and I had to fish it out. A security guard backstage watched me do this and offered advice.

Then it was my turn. For many of the conventioneers, the show was over after Cobb's speech, so lots of people were filing out as I performed. Cobb's speech ran short, so I had time for two numbers: the proletarian anthem "It's Hard to Win a Woman (When You're Working For the Man)," which my friend Thomas Crofts and I wrote; and the earnest Nick Lowe song "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding)." The crowd that remained was in a party mood and clapped along.

And that was it! I had to get back to Madison, so I packed up to go. As I made way out, a hippie looked at me and said, "Hey! What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?" I smiled, shrugged, and kept walking.

On the phone later, my mother asked what songs I played. She'd never heard of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding," and when I mentioned it, she asked, "So what's the bottom line?" I told her it's a rhetorical question.

What is so funny 'bout peace, love, and understanding?