Music: Take Back Labor Day 2008

Tom Morello started it, the audience finished it... "It has to start somewhere. It has to start somehow. What better place than here? What better time than now?"
Monday, September 1st, 2008 saw the Take Back Labor Day festival at Harriet Island draw a full mix of labor union supporters, peaceniks, wannabe-hippies, hippies, hip-hoppers, preppies, moms, dads, kids, and joe-sixpacks. When the main stage music began, the casual atmosphere reigned -- Billy Bragg chanted protest songs and genuinely engaged the audience with heart-felt appeals. The relaxed feel remained through Steve Earle and Allison Moorer, depsite Earle's harder-edged lyrics and his frequent use of the F word; and continued on well into Tom Morello's set. Morello, or as he is calling himself, The Night Watchman, is of course the lead guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, and everyone seemed eager for him to split their ears and tear some riffs up to get the crowd going ... but he didn't. Not really. He stuck to the script of unmelodic protest songs, speak-singing his way through most of those, to boot. Suffice to say, Morello, though inspirational, should stick to guitar playing. His voice is about as melodic as mine. Even less-so. Yes that's possible.
The vibe didn't really get charged until, nearing the end of his final song, Morello sang the lyric that began this post ... "It has to start somewhere. It has to start somehow. What better place than here? What better time than now?" And by the end of it, the crowd was ready for something big -- and man, when Tom Morello tells you to jump and shout, brother you jump and shout.
Following another short speech from a Union rep, local talent Atmosphere took the stage, and like moths to a flame, the young and old pressed forward. A migration. Waves of people moved in closer and closer, and finally, after two hours, the festival became a concert. Atmosphere rocked that joint. Hands and arms of thousands of kids went up, and the bass rolled down. Slug and his mates played for about 45 minutes, and it was the highest injected 45 minutes we'd seen. By the time he'd finished, the exodus to the beer tents and biffys began.
Most were still not yet re-settled when Mos Def came in and pumped out three songs before even addressing the crowd. Naturally a guy in a Members only jacket and hat might comment on the day's 90' heat ... and he did. "Man, Minnesota's hotter than a muhf*cker." And it was. So was his set. Infused with some old school jams, a crowd of mostly late teens and early twenties joined him on choruses from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "The Message"; prompting my festival companion Jodi to wonder how many kids had yet been born when that song was released. It was determined by approximation that "very few" were indeed born before 1980.
But hey, it was a peaceful time, a rallying point of inspiration, and a joy to behold -- I just wish we could have heard one, just one full-on Rage song ... Harriet Island would still be shaking.