A Call to Action (2008)

• 82%
• 2008
• Christopher Gaspar

A Call To Action, a documentary that captures the story of how a motivated group of musicians and fans created HeadCount, a grassroots non-partisan, not-for-profit voter registration organization, depicts how HeadCount sprang out of the live music community to become a force in a nationwide movement to mobilize young voters. It features appearances by a dozen musicians and longtime supporters, including superstar Dave Matthews, Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead, Trey Anastasio of Phish and Grammy-winner Bela Fleck. A Call to Action mixes music, interviews and concert footage to tell an inspirational story about culture and political organizing. It shows how unique lessons learned in the grassroots music community were applied in launching HeadCount, a volunteer-run organization that would register nearly 50,000 voters in 2004, its very first year of existence. "For the young folks today, these elections will largely determine what happens for the rest of their lives," said Bob Weir, a member of HeadCount's Board of Directors, in A Call to Action. The documentary includes footage of Weir and several other artists making an appeal from stage for their fans to register and vote. It also profiles other nonprofit organizations and charitable activity by artists such as Warren Haynes (of Gov't Mule and the Allman Brothers Band). "Telling this story through the words and images of artists really hammers home how universal this is" said Marc Brownstein, bass player for the popular electronic rock band The Disco Biscuits, and one of HeadCount's co-chairs and founders.