Brooklyn Feels the #Bern

A two-night concert took place in Brooklyn last week to raise funds for 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Photographer Pete Voelker was on the scene.

by Pete Voelker

January 11, 2016, 5:00am

All photographs by Pete Voelker

"For a lot of young people, the political system looks broken," Joe Dinkin, national communications director of the Working Families Party, said on the first of a two-night concert last week in Brooklyn to raise funds for 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. A majority of the 20 performances were by young artists, singing songs about social justice and speaking feelingly about why they support the self-described Democratic Socialist from Vermont.

The candidate himself was in New York last week, giving remarks about Wall Street reform. While whispers that he might make an appearance spread through Baby's All Right (he didn't), the Williamsburg venue hosting the event, attendees seemed totally content with the impassioned speeches made by his campaign's proxies and supporters.

Organized by Winnie Wong, a co-founder of People for Bernie Sanders and creator of the hashtag #feelthebern, the Brooklyn for Bernie fundraiser included acoustic performances by Cass McCombs and The Chapin Sisters, a satirical set by progressive political comic Jamie Kilstein, and a speech from actress Susan Sarandon, who preached what she called Sanders's "revolution of hope." Photographer Pete Voelker was on the scene for the two-night event.

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Vermont musicians Kat Wright and Brett Hughes, long-time Bernie Sanders supporters, made the trip down from Burlington to perform at Baby's All Right.

Bernie fans Jasper Briggs and Kate Lowman. Of Sanders, Briggs said, “He’s the truth, the most authentic, for equality and for the people.”

The Working Class Families Party mans a photo booth with pro-Bernie props.

Luis Calderin, manager of "Arts, Culture, and the Youth Vote" for Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign, emceed the two-night event.

An attendee signs a petition supporting Bernie Sanders for president.

Explaining his support for Sanders, Zachary Mexico, one of the owners of Baby’s All Right, says “the political apparatus in America is not particularly well functioning, and he’s the only candidate that’s outside that.”

Jana Hunter closes the first night of performances at Baby's All Right.

Political organizer Moumita Ahmed, of Millennials for Bernie, rallies the crowd to organize for the senator's campaign.

Nadya Stevens, mobilization coordinator for Communications Workers of America Local 1180, explains why Sanders is the only “real” Democratic candidate running for president in 2016.

The Chapin Sisters and Cass McCombs get the second night going with an early acoustic performance at the bar, covering Pete Seeger's "Banks of Marble."