Chris Young, a Democratic candidate for mayor of Providence, R.I., will not be silenced. When a local morning newscast invited him on as part of its ";Coffee With the Candidates" series this week, he naturally brought along his guitar player. (What serious political candidate would show up for an interview without his ax man, right?) But the suits at the station refused to let the guitarist into the studio, throwing a wrench into Young's plan to sing, live on the air — like any politician would — a song he wrote about Jesus Christ and poverty.
But Chris Young thinks on his feet. He brought along a prerecorded backing track, played it on a handheld audio player, and serenaded a shocked television presenter and the voters of Providence with a beautiful song to start their day.
Sure, it was nice, but you don't really get the full effect without Young's actual band. So after he finished singing, he asked for a do-over:
Young: I'd like the opportunity to come on the show again and sing again with my band.
Host: Well, we'll see what we can do about that.
Young: How about this week? Later this week?
Do equal-time provisions apply to lite rock and folk songs? We hope not.
[Another odd campaign moment: Mayoral candidate doctors photo]
UPDATE: The freewheeling Mr. Young has more than one trick up his sleeve! That song was recorded on Monday morning. The next day, he appeared at Providence's mayoral debate with four other candidates. During Young's closing statement, he reached into his jacket pocket--raising, no doubt, hopes among his fans that he was going to pull out an audio player and lay down some tunage. But instead, he pulled out a ring, and proposed to his girlfriend, live, on the air, in the middle of a televised political debate. Here's the video:
She said yes. But sadly, it may just be a political dirty trick. According to Providence's WPRI, Young partially retracted the proposal, saying they would only get married if he won the election. Which he will not. What's more, he was already referring to his girlfriend as his fiancee:
Moments later, though, Young clarified that they would only get married if he won the election. And newspaper reports show he had already been referring to Russo as his fiancée for more than a month.
Politicians. They'll always let you down.
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