Nicole Brodeur / Times staff columnist
From many musicians, one tune

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"Did you see the photo?" he asked me yesterday. "It's like Ben and I stuck our heads through a big cardboard cutout of famous musicians." If it blew Harmer away to be in the room when the Vote for Change tour was announced, imagine the buzz kill it was for the folks at GOP headquarters.

Vote for Change will send some of the most influential artists in the country to battleground states like Florida and Ohio to try to sway the election and defeat George W. Bush.

The bad news: No part of the tour will hit Seattle.

The good news: Seattle folks played a big role in getting the tour off the ground.

It started with a call in February from Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis to Springsteen manager Jon Landau.

Curtis and Pearl Jam publicist Nicole Vandenberg were deluged by requests to do political benefits.

"I was looking for advice," Curtis said of his call to Landau. "And it started growing."

Curtis and Landau called some 50 artists and their managers to New York, along with Jenny Toomey of Air Traffic Control, which educates artists on activism.

Toomey talked about swing states, explained campaign-finance laws and outlined the groups seeking support.

Instead of one big show, the managers settled on a battle plan: 20 artists would perform 34 shows in nine states during one week in October.
 
"It's remarkable to see these managers work together," Toomey said, "because music is largely competitive."

Some acts, like the Dixie Chicks, are choosing to be more "moderate," Toomey said, by focusing on issues.

Other groups, like Pearl Jam, have a goal in mind.

"It's time to get into the fray and to make a public statement that something needs to happen," said Gossard, who was inflamed not only by Bush's environmental policies but by how he "handcuffed the country in going to war."

Death Cab's Harmer admires the "scope" of the tour.

"A lot of opponents would like to believe that musicians can't get organized, and this says we can, that we can put aside the smaller issues for the greater cause, which is that we need an administration change in a very bad way."

And it isn't just Bush-bashing, Curtis said, "but more a positive thing, getting people involved in this election. It just so happens that we all want a different administration."

As for those who think music and politics shouldn't mix?

"I always thought it was the job of rock artists to make change, to make you think," Curtis said. "John Lennon, Bob Dylan. ... Those guys were my heroes."

With one call, he got 20 more.

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

Put pretzels in the riders, for fun.