Those of you who frequent the 9:30 club Web site may have noticed something odd recently. Instead of the typical listing of shows featuring indie "it" bands, the best of pop punk and radio-ready adult contemporary, the 9:30 club is taking a night off from its usual three-act music shows on Tuesday to present something less than usual. WEDrock, an event put on by the gay rights coalition Freedom to Marry, is a different kind of show altogether.
The brainchild of New York promoter Josh Wood, film director-actor-musician John Cameron Mitchell and musician Bob Mould (former frontman of seminal rock bands Husker Du and Sugar), WEDrock boasts a night of music, comedy, entertainment and politics from a wide assortment of performers.
The event features performances from Mitchell, Mould, comedian Sandra Bernhard, local musician Richard Morel, gay alt-country band Purty Mouth, New York City's electro-clash group Avenue D and TRL heartthrob Ben Jelen. Black Flag frontman and D.C. native Henry Rollins will emcee the show and D.C. Council member David Catania, whose position on same-sex marriage caused him to be stripped of his Republican delegate status for the Republican National Convention in August, according to the Washington Post, will address the crowd.
"I think it's a pretty mixed bag," Mould said. "I think there's something on there for everybody."
Mould, who moved to D.C. a few years ago from New York, has spent the last six weeks organizing the event.
"We've called in a lot of favors," Mould noted. "Pretty much everywhere I go in the neighborhood everybody's buzzing about it."
D.C.'s WEDrock is the second incarnation of the event, the first occurring last April in New York City. The first show featured Mould, Mitchell and Bernhard, as well as bands Le Tigre and Sleater-Kinney, and entertainers Margaret Cho, Allan Cummings and Penny Arcade.
"That was a really big success," Mould said. "About a month went by and I was in touch with Josh about some other stuff and he said, 'Do you think there's any interest in doing a show in D.C.?' And I said, 'Sure, we can do one in D.C.'"
WEDrock is an intrinsically political event, something that until recently has been a rarity in the music industry. The recent alignment of entertainment and politics has spawned tours like the Vote for Change and Punkvoter tours; however, as Mould notes, smaller, more intimate politically tinged events are uncommon.
"I think it's the kind of show that D.C. doesn't see very often," Mould said. "Hopefully [that is] the allure of it beyond the fact that it's a good cause and there's good people performing. I lived in New York for so long and I used to take those kind of shows for granted. You never see them here."
Mould recalled that the last time he remembers D.C. hosting such an event was the Tell Us the Truth tour, which featured Billy Bragg, Janeane Garafalo and others protesting mainstream media and corporate globalization last fall, according to Newsweek.
The intent of WEDrock - beyond just being a "big fun rock show," as Mould puts it - is truly political.
"[The goal of WEDrock] is to raise some money," John Cameron Mitchell said. "And also just to raise awareness that there's an assault on civil rights here. That shouldn't be stood for."
The assault Cameron Mitchell refers to is the recent motions made by the government, specifically the Republican Party, to prevent gay marriage.
"I think given the political climate I think it's time this issue gets addressed," Mould said. "I think the fact that there's a gross inequity with coupled gays and lesbians not having certain rights. I mean, if your partner gets sick, you can't get into the emergency room because you're not family in the legal sense. When you jointly own property and one passes away, it's not fair. There's very few allowances made for same-sex couples, and I think the only way to take this to people is head on and say, 'Look, this is not fair. You have to give us equal status.'"
Cameron Mitchell agrees that the government's role in gay marriage should be one of protection, not prevention.
"I believe there should be some protection of certain rights, so I think there should be certainly an equivalent rights and opportunities - and penalties - for those want to get married who are gay or straight," Cameron Mitchell said. "They should be the exact same situation."
Mark Mitchell, a member of the band Purty Mouth, noted that this goes beyond just the issue of marriage to that of basic human rights, and the upholding of the separation of church and state.
"I would say that the goal is equal civil rights for all," Mitchell noted in an interview via e-mail. "It's ridiculous that a segment of the population is forbidden to marry due to religious superstitions. The separation of church and state, while nearly nonexistent these days, is supposed to be an integral part of our government."
The performers all agree that an event like WEDrock, like most of the politically angled music events this year, can be construed as preaching to the converted.
"[But] one of things I've been hammering on with Josh is that it's the straight audience that'll make the difference on this show - not only a financial success for the cause, but also in terms taking the message home with them," Mould said. "I think it's about showing the straight audience that it's a worthy cause. It's showing the inequality, and showing the normalcy - showing the normal face of what we are as a community."
Cameron Mitchell also hopes that while the show itself may be addressing an audience that already believes in the cause, the money raised for Freedom to Marry goes beyond that.
"We're raising money for the converted, and that money is used in ways that are hopefully preaching to the unconverted," Cameron Mitchell said. "It's just to remind people that there are people thinking about this. [Also it's] to energize the converted."
Richard Morel, another performer, agrees.
"It would be great if it could educate people outside the homo community about the importance of marriage rights for everyone," he said in an e-mail interview.
Freedom to Marry is a gay-straight coalition headed by Evan Wolfson. The money raised at WEDrock will go to the Maryland/D.C./Virginia chapter to gain "public awareness through advertisement, helping with legal challenges to anti-gay marriage laws, certainly raising awareness to the general population," according to Cameron Mitchell.
There are two types of tickets available for WEDrock: $40 general admission tickets, and $100 VIP tickets that offer the purchaser access to an open vodka bar and a chance to participate in a meet-and-greet with the performers after the show. Tickets are available at the 9:30 club box office or on its Web site, www.930.com.
For more information, visit www.wedrock.com or www.freedomtomarry.org.
