Dave Matthews, Jay-Z, Weiland Step Up Obama Support

With this being the second-to-last weekend before Election Day, the music world is gearing up its support for Barack Obama. First, Dave Matthews and his frequent collaborator Tim Reynolds will play a free show, dubbed the "Last Chance for Change", in Richmond, Virginia. Tickets are available at a first-come, first-serve basis Obama campaign offices in both Richmond and Charlottesville, which was the birthplace of the Dave Matthews Band. Jay-Z will continue his string of Obama benefit shows with a free rally and concert in Cleveland, Ohio on October 29th. Another "Last Chance for Change" show, Jigga will be joined by LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers at the event.

And just in case Obama needed the support of the swing Stone Temple Pilots bloc, Scott Weiland announced that he's supporting the Democratic candidate for president. "Barack Obama is the leader, the listener and the visionary with international respect to take us from the depths of where we are today and bring us to a new place where dreams are made; that place is called America," Weiland said on his website. Lastly, Obama will finally make his long-awaited appearance at Chicago's Grant Park, the site of the Lollapalooza festival, for a rally on the evening of Election Day, November 4th. With early predictions estimating a crowd of 100,000+, Obama is expected to draw more people to the park than Radiohead, Kanye West and Nine Inch Nails manage to draw this past summer.

Related Stories:
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• Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen Form Obama Supergroup in NYC
• Cover Story: Barack Obama

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

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