It's been a while since my last Diary entry, but here goes nothing...
Billionaires For Bush is finally getting ready to make the long-awaited "The Billionaires Are In The House" hip hop music video. We have a brilliant director, a stellar DP a fine editor and a performer who is so visceral and compelling in the person of our own 50 Billion (aka Wil b). We are shooting this weekend (August 28st).
Update [2004-8-24 20:2:25 by KentTreeCA]: It seems the Billionaires' site is down right now, but the donation link works. Just google them, they've been around four over four years.
We are using Jib-Jab's "This Land Is Your Land" (
http://jibjab.com/) as a model in creating a web-based entertainment that spreads virally. Our organization is getting a lot of attention. The music video will part of a swing state tour to reach out to young minority voters that begins at the end of the month.
Hip hop is incredibly popular with youth today, especially youth of color. African American voters will be decisive in many of the battleground states: Florida, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania. A hip hop video, especially one like ours, that uses humor and plays with hip hop conventions will appeal to the young people who have given up on voting because they don't think their vote will matter.
To make this video a reality, we need money. Everyone involved will be donating their services and talents. Even so, there are a number of costs that are unavoidable, not the least of these being film stock and costumes. We are working with a $20,000 budget and in the last 2 days, have raised about $6000.
We would like your help, as well as any friends you have who want to see George Bush packing for Crawford for good. Many folks want to contribute in some way to getting John Kerry elected and they haven't figured out how to make their donation an effective one.
A donation to us gets major bang for the buck. We have been getting stunning results on a shoestring. The New York Times seems to write about us almost every week. We're getting coverage all over the country. Whenever Bush and Cheney and their evil minions show up in some town in middle America, they're greeted by a group of Billionaires who catch the eye of the media and explain how Bush's policies are keeping Billionaires fat and happy at everyone else's expense. Check out our website to find out more about us and the work we're doing:
http://billionairesforbush.com/
There's a clip of the song "Billionaires In The House" on the website.
You can donate to us online at (don't forget to add the .01!):
https://secure3.ctsg.com/BforB/donation
or you can write a check and send it to:
Billionaires for Bush
161 Prospect Park West, Suite 3R
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Make sure to write "Video" on the 'for' line of the check so your contribution goes to this project.
Whatever you can do will make a big difference, and then, in November, you'll be glad you did.