I’ve been itching to share about the time Al Gore hosted an insane concert on Miami Beach on the eve of the 2000 election that delightfully married me, politics, and pop culture.
I was there, “front row” at 21 years old, hanging from the gate that separated us plebes from musical and Hollywood royalty. The memory of that night is like a fever dream. It included performances by Stevie Wonder, Jon Bon Jovi, and Deborah Cox. The line-up was exceptional, even for a sexy swing state like Florida (was).
I’m writing this because I want to document this bizarre historical event but also because we’re nearing what may be an even more chaotic election — can’t wrap my brain around that. More on that later.
The first ballot I cast in a presidential election was for Al Gore. In Florida. A state where the other candidate’s brother was the governor. A great big dumb state (I do love you, Florida) that botched the election terribly to steal the presidency from a legitimately great man and give it to a genuine moron thanks to something called hanging chads. Read about it.
But let me back up a few weeks. My best friend Eddie was like, “Let’s volunteer for Al Gore!”And I was like, “Sure!”
This was 24 years — many of partying — ago, but I think what we mainly did was drop off signs around town and go to Bal Harbour Shops (at the time, the most upscale mall in the state) to talk up Al Gore with the sales people. I remember this visit because it was the first time I felt chinchilla. It was a fur coat, which even then was gauche, but I still can’t believe how soft those little rodents are!
So, as a reward for our hard work, we were allowed to attend this oceanside rally. By chance, my parents and their friends were attending, but they got tickets and thus seats. We were on the volunteer side, but Eddie and I were experienced in “front of the line” club maneuvers. We got there early and wove our way to the very front by the stage. Then we attached ourselves to the gate and fought off a few other opportunists to secure a prime location.
I think the night started with Deborah Cox who sang “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here,” pandering to the LGBTQ+ crowd, which in 2000 was still almost all of South Beach. Then I think it was Stevie Wonder. (I have actually been *blessed* with seeing Stevie perform in an intimate setting years later at a high-rollers-only show at Hard Rock Live Hollywood.) The funny part was that Stevie like improvised a song about Al Gore and voting and just sang it on loop for like a good hour and made everyone sing along. It was low-key hilarious. (Something like the song at 51:00.)
He may have been proceeded by Jon Bon Jovi and Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora who did a solid acoustic set. I actually had my first like viral internet moment when I reviewed JBJ’s foray into the Great American Songbook years later at Hard Rock Live. As a child of the ‘80s who was raised on MTV, I LOVE Jon Bon Jovi. Me and women who wore their hair teased for a decade were that target audience.
But the craziest thing was yet to come. After the concert, a helicopter hovered over the shore and when it landed on the sand, Vice President Gore emerged with a group of A-list actors. Glenn Close, Robert DeNiro, and Ben Affleck were with him and Babyface (who maybe performed with Stevie or Deborah?), Florida politicians, and the musical acts joined him on the stage directly in front of us to convince us to vote. We were convinced.
Then Al Gore and Tipper Gore headed down from the stage. (She’s a drummer, and we interviewed her for Tom Tom magazine.) They’re actually divorced now and thriving. As they walked around shaking hands, Tipper patted my head.
That was the first of other interesting political events I attended because I volunteered and lived in a swing state. I love how they romance ya. My other favorite was seeing Marc Anthony open for Obama on Miami Beach — thanks to Eddie, as well. I saw John Mellencamp for Kerry. I saw Obama, a real rock star, on his first trip to Miami as a candidate. I’m very into politics, so this is all like my favorite ever.
Back to Al Gore. Somehow, the next day we ended up at the campaign headquarters’ event in a hotel in downtown Miami. We were some of the first people in the country to (over)hear the details about voter disenfranchisement in the state. I remember broken voting machines in Black neighborhoods, voters waiting like ten hours on lines only to be sent away. I mean there was an abundance of misdeeds by Karl Rovites in Florida to stamp out Democrat votes.
Another thing that played a role in this election was the Green Party and Ralph Nader. A lot of people (even someone related to me…) voted for Ralph, who is a great guy, and Lebanese! But it was misguided and those third party votes played a significant role in Gore’s loss. Ironically, Gore is one the “greenest” guys ever. Oh, it just kills me.
This election on Nov. 5, 2024, will likely create a similar kind of mess. We know that if Kamala wins, Trump and his supporters are ready to invalidate the election results in every and any way possible. They already started this week by throwing people off the list of registered voters in Virginia thanks to Trump’s hand-selected U.S. Supreme Court. They’re also alleging voter fraud in Pennsylvania. It’s going to be a SHITSHOW.
I’m sitting here worrying about the outcome of the election, but these could be the final days of living in a “free” state. Even Jeff Bezos is trembling in his billionaire boots.
We’ve had dark days before, but if that man manages to weasel his way into power again, the America we’ve been building toward will be over. I’m trying to think about the great Al Gore, who played a critical role in creating the internet and letting us dummies know about the immediacy of climate change — and that was after he “lost.” Hopefully, we can harness his strength and vision and find new ways to bring progress to this country even if it’s in near total disrepair.
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