Liquid Lounge, in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, was a dark hallway of a bar complete with clusters of Christmas lights and a disco ball that spun red ovals across the wall. Apathetic patrons stared rapt at silent LCD screens showing sports highlights and Headline News. At the end of the room a band nobody seemed to notice jammed out on funk versions of Bill Withers, The Rolling Stones and Eagle Eye Cherry.
The band, Crush Velvet, was made up of two locals who began playing music in church nearly 12 years ago. The guitarist and lead singer, Josh Zabowski (stage name Josh Z), began his musical career playing contemporary Christian rock when he was 12 (he’s 24 now) and the drummer, Brent Cates, started hitting the skins around the same time backing what he called “unbearably white gospel music.”
When they got to talking about politics, however, I didn’t confuse the barroom table with a church pew.
“The one thing that I am really fucking worried about is the healthcare system,” Zabowski said. “Honestly, I want a happy medium. Right now I think that it’s too Republican, but I don’t like that healthcare for all shit. If you have a toothache in Canada you got to wait like three months, even if you’re rich. So those bitches are coming down here to get their teeth done. All I know is that the insurance companies should all be burned down. It’s the legal robbery of Americans.
“I think that the government should take care of the elderly, the veterans, and the poor. And everyone else, big fucking whoop, get a job. McDonald’s is hiring. If Barack Obama goes with that Universal healthcare, I’m voting against him, otherwise I’ll probably vote for him.”
The group agreed, however, that it was not just the issues that swayed their view of politicians.
“The biggest thing I look for in a candidate is not just the issues they stand for, but whether they are solid people,” Cates said. “Some people you can tell are just trying to get votes, that’s why Hillary’s a sway bitch. She’s going to say whatever she can to get votes; I don’t care what she stands for, because nobody knows what she stands for. Look, we all hate Bush, but we fucking know what he is going to do. I don’t like what he is doing with America, I don’t like what he is doing with the economy, but at least I know what he is going to do.”
After talking to Zabowski for about 10 minutes, he took a sip from his beer and out of nowhere said, “ You know, AIDS is totally curable. They have the cure. Anyone could be cured in three months, but you can only get it if you are a fireman or EMS on the job. If someone squirts blood in your eye, your eye is the most susceptible place for you to get AIDS.” Before he could go any more into the topic, he was ushered back on stage.
