In 2006, Blue America worked with a group of various artists to promote several dozen little known challengers to Republican House incumbents. The video above, which we did for Kirsten Gillibrand in her first run for Congress against powerful, entrenched incumbent John Sweeney, may have helped her win her 53.1- 46.9% victory. She's now a U.S. Senator and someone on the list of future potential national leaders. That same year we did similar videos and songs for John Yarmuth (D-KY) and now Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT). All three have music that was contributed by the key members of the Squirrel Nut Zippers and vocals by the inimitable Rickie Lee Jones.
Most people know Rickie for gold and platinum albums like her eponymous debut, Pirates and Flying Cowboys, for her huge pop smash with Chuck E.'s in Love and for all those Rolling Stone magazine covers. But Rickie the artist has always been a lot more than just a product of shifting commercial whims. And you know all those "Have You Had Enough" songs she did for the Blue America candidates? She charged us exactly zero-- just went into the studio with producer Andy Paley and belted it out a couple of times and said she was happy to do it. I wonder if Senators Gillibrand and Murphy, for example, even know.
Rickie moved to New Orleans recently. I just heard from her yesterday. She's raising money for her next recording project on PledgeMusic. There are some amazing items she's selling to get the money for the album, including the original cover art painting for Flying Cowboys and… well you can win a concert at your house! Here's what she wrote on the site:
I thank you in advance for your support, for going with me down this new road.
I think sometimes of the times of Amadeus and the prince or cardinal whose wealth supported him and his work. I’m so much luckier. I have you.
I have been going through boxes that have lain unpacked for decades, and found some treasures. They are treasures to me personally, things I want to share with my fans because I want them to be with people and not in some storage unit.
There are some instruments that we will be adding to the campaign as it goes along ; you can have a great piece of my history and a great guitar. They are all vintage, all played by me, and they all need new homes.
I have two LPs that were test pressings made for me to check EQ, times between songs, so on. These are rare one-of-a-kind things.
There are three dresses made for me for the Flying Cowboys tour. One was worn on the "Flying Cowboys” video. They have been wrapped in tissue for many years. Another was in the lovely program made for the tour. I am selling the dress that I wore in Dr. John’s “Makin Whoopee” video. That dress, my hairstyle, which was a derivative of the Pirates rag wraps, all that stuff we made up and created that went on to become part of the culture. Girls do ringlets now and the “Makin’ Whoopee” thing shows up in a movie or two, and the video was a big success for Dr. John. We won Grammys for Best Jazz Duet. In fact, most of the clothes I am selling can be seen in some media. I’m also offering the beautiful purple velvet hat on the cover of my music publishing book, that was from a live club date during the Flying Cowboys tour.
I love to draw, and have drawn all my life. My work is on the cover of Girl at Her Volcano, my second “half” record on Warner Brothers records. I did one of my backdrops-- a full Bible torn and pasted with the pages of some of my books, this was for the Ghostyhead tour (Jon Pareles described it in his review of the show for the New York Times). I have art for sale , posters , drawings, large and small. I am also offering Christmas cards, a package of 12. I’ve always made my own cards.
Of course there are some big-ticket items. Songwriters and performers , I will talk with you, give you some assignments, help young or not so young, with what I know works for me. I am also available for private concerts. You can request the show you want. Why not?!
