News & Reviews

Guitar heavyweights jam for candidate Hall

GARRISON — The benefit performance by Jackson Browne, Dar Williams and Pete Seeger in a hayloft had the informal air of an intimate jam session.

But for the performers and the 125 guests who paid $250 a head to sit on folding chairs among bales of hay in the loft of a horse barn yesterday, the purpose was profoundly serious.

"We've got to take the Congress back so we can change the disastrous direction our country has taken under the Bush-Cheney right-wing cabal," Browne said during a two-hour benefit for Democrat John Hall, a singer-songwriter who hopes to unseat Rep. Sue Kelly, R-Katonah, in November.

The concert is one of four, $200-to-$250 events that the high-profile performers are holding for Hall, formerly of the band Orleans.

Browne, who rarely performs on behalf of individual candidates, flew from California to help Hall, his friend of three decades.

Williams and Seeger live in the 19th Congressional District, where Hall is making his first bid for a national elected office.Hall was elected to office in Ulster County.

The three celebrities said they were donating their time to support Hall because of his advocacy for peace, health care for all, high-quality education, environmental protection, renewable and clean sources of energy, and freedom from government spying and interference in a woman's right to choose.

"The Bush administration is laying waste to our core principles," Browne said. "We have to turn this country around by electing people who will enact policies that are good for the majority of people and not just the very rich."

But getting Hall's message out requires money, and that is where the name recognition of his friends can work wonders.

Browne said he would like to participate in a larger concert in support of Hall if the details can be worked out.

Kelly, a 12-year incumbent, has a bankroll of more than $1 million.

And Hall's fundraising effort trails at least one of his five Democratic opponents in the 19th District, which covers Putnam, northern Westchester, and portions of Rockland, Dutchess and Orange counties.

Malpractice lawyer Judy Aydelott of Katonah, the first Democrat to declare in the race, has amassed about $500,000. That sum is expected to rise following a recent fundraiser held for her by financier George Soros.

The other Democratic candidates are Yorktown Councilman James Martorano, political consultant Darren Rigger of Peekskill, Ben Shuldiner of Cortlandt and Gary Suraci of Wappingers Falls.

The benefit performances for Hall are drawing music fans from across the metropolitan region and as far south as Virginia and Florida.

The musicians were mindful to widen their appeal as they weaved their signature songs with those that held political and personal meaning.

Williams opened with "The Hudson" after telling the audience that high on the list of reasons she supports Hall's candidacy is his years of work alongside Seeger to clean up the river she loves watching as it flows past her home.

Browne picked up the nautical theme with "Before the Deluge" and "Rock Me on the Water." He moved to a lighter note with "Take it Easy," describing how seeing women behind the wheel of trucks in Flagstaff, Ariz., gave him the idea for the song.

"There's something very empowering about women driving trucks," Browne said to loud applause.

The audience joined in for the chorus of songs led by Seeger on the banjo, including "This Land is Our Land." Other times, they accompanied the musicians by clapping their hands or tapping their feet.

Putnam County Democratic Chairman Ken Harper danced at the back of the hayloft with his 5-year-old daughter, Samantha Lee.

Hall told the audience of his outrage upon hearing "Still the One," a song he wrote with his wife, illegally used by the Bush campaign in 2004.

Browne said he hoped the song would be played at Hall's re-election in 2008.

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