Flip These Houses benefit planned for NY. WHY ISN’T SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPENING IN NJ?

by JAY LUSTIG
NJ Anti-Trump benefit

The Flip These Houses concert in New York, Sept. 28, will raise money in an effort to defeat Republican candidates on Election Day.

Flip These Houses, scheduled for Sept. 28 at the Knockdown Center in Queens, N.Y., is billed as a concert “celebrating protest songs, political music, and unity through songs.” Proceeds will go to several groups trying to help win Congress back from Republican leadership.

The long list of participants includes Craig Finn of The Hold Steady, Ted Leo, Britt Daniel of Spoon, Amy Rigby, Jeffrey Gaines, Matthew Caws of Nada Surf, Nicole Atkins, Laura Cantrell, Lenny Kaye of The Patti Smith Group, Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, actor Michael Shannon and many others.

The organizations that will benefit are fighting for candidates in races not only in New York, but in other states as well, so the concert is relevant to New Jersey — and all other states, too. But it does bring up the question: With several New Jersey congressional races tightly contested, and with the results having national ramifications in perhaps the most important election of our lifetimes, why hasn’t a similar event — or, indeed, any event, as far as I can tell — been organized by the arts community in New Jersey?

I know there is a lot of anti-Trump sentiment among members of that community. I see everyone’s Facebook posts. Yet no one has taken the step of trying to get some kind of event going.

So I’m posting this, hoping someone will be inspired by it. And I pledge to help in any way I can. (Please feel free to email me at njartsdaily@gmail.com).

Election Day is Nov. 6, so time is running out. I would love to see a huge event with the state’s biggest politically concerned stars participating. But even if there are just a few small, grass-roots efforts, scattered throughout the state, that would be better than nothing.

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