NYS Music 202​1

Tag: headcount

  • The Capitol Sessions: Songs from a Rock Palace That Impacted the World, Announced for December 17 in Port Chester

    From the producers of the annual Love Rocks NYC benefit concert comes The Capitol Sessions: Songs from a Rock Palace That Impacted the World. Featuring Jackson Browne and Jorma Kaukonen leading an all-star jam benefiting HeadCount, the star-studded event will take place on Friday, December 17 at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester.

    Also featured in the show will be Marco Benevento, James Casey, Lisa Fischer, Amy Helm, Connor Kennedy, Eric Krasno, Tony Leone, Grahame Lesh, Adam Minkoff, Karina Rykman, and TheWar and Treaty.

    The Capitol Sessions

    Curating the evening is legendary producer, arranger, songwriter, singer, and multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell, alongside his musical partner and wife Teresa Williams. Universally respected by his peers and fans as a master of music, the three-time Grammy-winning producer/musical director for Levon Helm was a member of Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour band, as well as a session and touring musician for artists including Keith Richards, Jackson Browne, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon and Emmylou Harris, and a recipient of the Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award as Instrumentalist.

    The Capitol Sessions celebrates the groundbreaking songs played at The Capitol Theatre by rock royalty like Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Bonnie Raitt, Jefferson Airplane, The Chambers Brothers, Mountain, Joe Cocker, the Rolling Stones, Traffic, and Eric Clapton.

    The Capitol Theatre is one of rock ‘n’ roll’s last remaining rock palaces. A place where many of rock’s most beloved legends performed — the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, David Bowie, Janis Joplin, to name a few. We can’t wait to celebrate the iconic songs that have been played over the years at The Cap. It will be very cool for The Capitol Sessions to happen on the same stage where these songs were originally performed. It’s going to be an epic night!

    Peter Shapiro, DayGlo President and HeadCount board member

    The show benefits HeadCount, a non-partisan voter registration advocacy organization that stages voter registration drives at more than 1,000 live events each year and collaborates with cultural leaders to promote civic engagement on a national scale. Since 2004, HeadCount has signed up over 1,000,000 voters through its work with Ariana Grande, Dead & Company and Beyoncé, as well as events like Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Pride Festivals, and RuPaul’s DragCon.

    The Capitol Sessions is the latest in a lineup of standout events by RWE, the company founded by Greg Williamson and Nicole Rechter to bring people together around music, culture, and philanthropy. RWE has realized its vision through charity concerts such as Love Rocks NYC, the Play On CBS primetime TV special, and the annual Tipping Point concert for Tulane University and the city of New Orleans.  

    In addition to honoring some of the most influential artists who played the Capitol during its heyday, we’re proud to highlight the importance of voting rights and democracy. We’d like to extend our thanks to Peter Shapiro, Larry Campbell, and all of the talented artists who agreed to be a part of this benefit concert.

    RWE founder Greg Williamson

    Tickets go on sale Friday, November 19 at 12 p.m. EST at thecapitoltheatre.com. Fans are encouraged to make a donation to benefit voter registration and HeadCount. Tune in on Fans.Live on December 17.

  • HeadCount Launches ‘Save The Vote!’ – 50 State Cultural And Action Campaign To Support Voting Rights

    On the 50th anniversary of 18-20-year-olds granted the right to vote via the 26th Amendment, non-profit voter registration organization HeadCount launched Save The Vote!, an interactive campaign to encourage young Americans and cultural leaders to speak out for voting rights.

    Save The Vote! is the first national campaign HeadCount will run specifically on voter rights. It is founded on their core values statement: “Elections should be fair, accessible, and trustworthy.”

    Dozens of musicians and cultural leaders will participate, with many directly calling their own elected officials and capturing those moments on social media videos. Lil Dicky, Big Freedia, Dead and Company, Ministry, Michael Franti, Kam Franklin of The Suffers, Shah, and Amy Lee of Evanescence are among the many HeadCount supporters who are using their own platforms to Save the Vote! 

    The Save The Vote! campaign aims to connect new or first-time activists to their power as citizens by contacting lawmakers about voting rights. Entertainers including Lil Dicky, Big Freedia, Dead & Company, and Amy Lee of Evanescence are among dozens supporting the campaign

    The campaign hits on July 1, the same day that a divided Supreme Court ruled to uphold restrictive voting laws in Arizona. That came just days after the For The People Act — a Federal bill to protect voting rights — was stalled by a filibuster in the U.S. Senate. Meanwhile, 389 restrictive bills in 48 states have been introduced by state lawmakers to limit voting rights. Save the Vote! keys in on those state-by-state battles.

    “50 years ago, our country gave electoral power to the youth vote at a time when we knew their voices could no longer be silenced,” said Andy Bernstein, HeadCount’s executive director, “and today, we are bringing young Americans and their favorite musicians into the national conversation about voting rights.”

    At HeadCount.org/SaveTheVote, users will find a listing of what’s happening in all 50 states. To access that information they first play a little guessing game, predicting where their state ranks in how easy it is to vote. Then — after selecting their state on an interactive map — they’ll learn about pending or recently passed voting legislation in their home state. Visitors can also learn about how voting rights impact specific nonpartisan issues such as Criminal Justice, Racism and Discrimination, Jobs and the Economy, and LGBTQ+ rights.

    Save the Vote! marks an extension of HeadCount’s work beyond voter registration and Get Out the Vote activities. Save the Vote! will also be integrated into HeadCount’s hallmark field program, as volunteers speak with concert and festival-goers at events like Peach Fest, Newport Folk Festival, Bonnaroo, Bass Canyon, Louder than Life, Ohana Festival, Lost Lands Festival, and tours by Dead & Company and Dave Matthews Band.

  • HeadCount ‘Vote With Pride’ Initiative Announces #TransPeopleVote Program

    HeadCount and their Vote With Pride initiative has launched a new program #TransPeopleVote, to prevent continued disenfranchisement of transgender and non-binary voters around the country.

    Since 2004, HeadCount has registered over one million voters working with musicians and partners including Ariana Grande, Phish, Billie Eilish, the Disco Biscuits, Camila Cabello, RuPaul’s DragCon, and MTV., among others.

    headcount pride

    Vote With Pride was launched to provide accessible, safe, and affirming resources for the LGBTQ+ community to vote. #TransPeopleVote has been developed in partnership with VoteRiders, the leading national expert in obtaining a qualifying ID to vote. 

    Currently, 22 states that have both a restrictive process for changing your name and gender marker on ID, and voter ID requirements to case your ballot. The name on your voter registration must match your legal name in all 50 states and Washington DC. #TransPeopleVote is a resource dedicated to supporting transgender and non-binary people as they navigate this complicated process.

    This work is core to HeadCount’s mission to make elections accessible for all voters. Together with VoteRiders, we can reach transgender voters and help them overcome ID barriers that may prevent them from voting.

    Voters can visit HeadCount.org/Pride to receive state-by-state information on what steps they need to take to obtain an updated ID to register and vote in their state. Additionally, VoteRiders has assembled the first-of-its-kind volunteer legal team to support transgender and non-binary voters in this process. To obtain support, voters simply need to call or text VoteRiders and they will be connected to an expert in their state for assistance.

    VoteRiders is delighted to join forces with HeadCount to provide transgender voters with the support they need to make their voices heard. Given the logistical, financial, and legal challenges transgender voters might face in securing their ID, we hope they will contact us right away so they will have the documents they need in time to vote – and the confidence they do, knowing they cannot be turned away. We are grateful that HeadCount inspired this tremendous opportunity to identify and assist voters who just might need a helping hand in the face of all these complicated and ever-changing voter ID laws.

    Kathleen Unger, Founder, and President of VoteRiders

    #TransPeopleVote is being launched in honor of Pride Month and will become a staple of the Vote With Pride initiative. HeadCount and VoteRiders will continue to update the resource as state laws are rapidly changing what is required to change your name and gender.

    For more information, read more about how voter ID laws disenfranchise millions of eligible voters. In addition to the 25+ million voting-age citizens who lack a current government-issued photo ID, confusion and intimidation serve to prevent millions more eligible Americans from voting, even though they have a valid ID – or do not need one – in their state. Even poll workers are confused and sometimes ask voters for ID when none is required. The Voter ID Helpline (844-338-8743) receives many calls and texts from people in non-voter ID states as well as states that do require or request ID at the polls or to vote by mail.