We're Getting The Band Back Together

Celebrities have always been a part of politics. I am grateful that I have got to see musicians and actors in person that I otherwise might not have seen.

But I know that for me, I’m never going to vote for someone because a celebrity told me.

Ok, maybe Lynda Carter.

I know people don’t care what celebrities think, because Conservatives post it all the time on social media. It is usually posted on a timeline between shares of “Watch James Woods own this interviewer” and “The shocking thing Rob Schneider just revealed”.

Indeed, it’s often hard to see where celebrity endorsements end and quotes added to a picture begin.

For many years, Sam Elliott’s picture has been used as the poster boy of no-nonsense no-BS plain speaking. I wonder how many people who have posted quotes attributed to Sam really know he’s riding with Biden  (or if you want to be specific like Snopes, he didn't publicl endorse, but he did lend his voice for a Biden campaign ad).

Some of the most surprising Celebrity endorsements of 2020 have been musicians endorsing Trump. Yes, 30 years ago, 45 could inspire songs like Prince’s “Donald Trump (Black Version), but in recent years, it’s hard to find a musician who is supporting Trump who wasn’t part of Damn Yankees, The Beach Boys, or had not topped the charts with “Bawitdaba”

Yes, Kanye West was a Trump supporter but one suspects (not assuredly though) that he will vote for himself instead.

The big news was rapper 50Cent giving what may be the biggest sound bit of the year that he didn’t want to be “20Cent” under Biden

Mr. Cent said he had looked at Biden’s tax plan and encouraged fans to vote for Trump.

A few days later as the news had went viral, he retracted and went to his Instagram and said “A what, another spin Fu*k Donald Trump, I never liked him. for all I know he had me set up and had my friend Angel Fernandez killed but that’s history. LOL.”

Another unlikely recent endorsement for the President came from Ice Cube. Cube took heat on social media for meeting with Jared Kushner and working with the President on a Platinum Plan for African Americans.

Personally, it’s hard for me to find room to condemn Cube on this one. I tend to think I would have done the same.

It’s just impossible of me to not think about this and hear Ice Cubes own words from the most vicious diss track of all time “I never have dinner with the President.”

With some of the most obscene lyrics of the day over a slamming Brick sample, Cube in 1991 feuding with NWA picked up on the story of Eazy E going to the White House. A footnote of the story is that E and the first President Bush were at a fundraiser at the same time (a contrary impression to the idea of Bush making a direct invitation.)

Like 50Cent, the Ice Cube story also ended with an asterisk as Eric Trump tweeted a photshopped picture of the two rappers in Trump gear.

Cube's response was a tweet that said quote "N*gga Please"  

In an era with few campaign rallies and more Zoom meetings, celebrities are looking for a bigger splash.

One of the more exciting local opportunities was a Hamilton themed rally that drew Nik Walker (Aaron Burr) and Fergie Phillips (Hercules Mulligan/James Madison) from the 2nd USTour, as well as Ryan Vasquez- the only actor to have said he has played Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Burr and Madison on Broadway.

That was cool but across the Nation there were some really high profile events and I wanted to feature as many as I could.

Happy Days- Probably no reunion has got more press than this one. No surprise that Ron Howard is involved. “Opie” Howard and Andy Griffith had one of the first reunions of this type supporting Obama in 2008 via Funny or Die.

Griffith, Henry Winkler, Don Most and Anton Williams came together for a virtual table read. Marion Ross (Mrs Cunningham) was expected to appear but the 92 year old actress is ill.

Famously, John Stamos offered to play Chachi, angering the original actor, Trump supporter Scott Baio and the two dueled all week- with Baio calling Stamos a Marxist and Stamos wearing a Chachi shirt everywhere.

Veep - the Julia Louis Dreyfus led cast had nearly everyone from the TV show and raised more than $500k as Dreyfus’s Selina Meyer was toasted as the ‘second worst President ever’.

Seinfeld - Dreyfus also headlines the Fundraiser About Something with Jason Alexander, Larry David and Seth Meyers invoking the show about nothing to raise money for Democrats in Texas

The Princess Bride- 4 Million dollars were raised for this headline grabbing reunion which angered superfan Ted Cruz to no end. The Wisconsin Democrats were able to get nearly everyone short of the late Peter Falk and the late Andre the Giant to get together for a table read.  Josh Gadd picked up the role of Fezzik and director Rob Reiner filled in for Falk.  The film's producer 98-year old legend Norman Lear appeared as well and Eric Idle, Whoopi Goldberg and Patton Oswalt were on hand.  

Star Trek- Pete Buttigieg satisfied his inner nerd as he joined a cast that hit five different Star Trek series. The Who’s who brought together Sulu, Picard, Janeway, Data, Dr Beverly Crusher, Riker, Geordi, Troi, Wesley and Seven of Nine in one place. Trek to Victory didn’t include Mark Hamill (it’s a joke) who headlined his own Biden event this summer.

Superbad-A reunion of Apatow, Cera, Hill, Rogen, Hader, Stone and the rest is planned. The debate of whether McLovin could commitVoter ID fraud likely not to be touched upon

Avengers- Captain America, Black Widow, Hulk, War Machine, Ant Man, Gamora and... Kamala Harris *ahem* assembled for trivia, Q&A and fundraising.

Private Practice- Kate Walsh and many of the stars of the Shonda Rhimes show reunited for Women for Biden.

Hamilton- the original cast led by Lin-Manuel Miranda had a no minimum donation fundraiser with a Q&A and performance.

Parks and Recreation- no surprise that the cast got together to support the Democratic candidate when Leslie Knope had said her ideal man had the Body of George Clooney and the Brain of Joe Biden

Wet Hot American Summer- Really? The 2001 film does have a bit of a cult and the cast is a bit of a who’s who. 3000 people donated to a well-received comedy event starring most of the film(and its spinoffs) stars that even with a last minute Bradley Cooper cancellation was a comedic A-List-Elizabeth Banks, Chris Pine, David Hyde Pierce, Jason Schwartzman, Josh Charles, John Slattery, Michael Cera, Alyssa Milano, Janeane Garofalo, Michael Ian Black, and Molly Shannon (as well as live music from Shudder to Think’s Craig Wedren).

This is Spinal Tap- Rob Reiner got the band back together for a one night Q&A for Pennsylvania Dems.

“When we created Spinal Tap all those years ago, we never could imagine a president as clueless as the characters we were playing! Yet, here we are,” Reiner said.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show- If you missed all of the above reunions, there is a chance to catch a Rocky Horror reunion Friday night

Tim Curry is now 74 and wheelchair bound from a stroke, but will be reprising his role as Frank N Furter.  The cast also includes originals Barry Bostwick and Nell "Columbia" Campbell, augmented by Rosario Dawson, Wilder Valderrama, Lance Bass, Jason Alexander, David Arquette and the music of the Dresden Dolls

Maybe not a reunion, but also worth mentioning is this Rocky Horror‘tribute’ - Tenacious D’s video had plenty of cameos including original cast member Susan Sarandon and a list that included Eric Andre, Sarah Silverman, Jamie Lee Curtis, Phoebe Bridgers, Karen O, Ilana Glazer, and ummm...Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren.

I’m not a big Jack Black fan, but after seeing his Riff Raff, I’m ready to start a GoFundMe for a remake.

Check it out...