Music is adding to the soundtrack of already noisy presidential election.

Hank Williams, Jr., has appeared at John McCain events. Bruce Springsteen has played acoustic shows on behalf of Barack Obama. The Beastie Boys, joined by Ben Harper, Crosby & Nash and Tenacious D, will visit Milwaukee on Sunday, Nov. 2 as part of a swing through battleground states.

Meanwhile, some rock stars have been bickering that political operatives try to create the appearance of endorsements by playing music at campaign functions.

A classic example occurred when the Heart song "Barracuda" blared out over the GOP convention floor after Gov. Sarah Palin gave her acceptance speech (although I have to pause and wonder why a conservative woman would want to be associated with the term "Barracuda").

The Wilson sisters -- Ann and Nancy -- who wrote the song, ordered their publishing company and their record label send the McCain-Palin camp a cease and desist letter. They personally object to the views of the Republicans, they said. The campaign, however, continues to spin the song.

Other artists have contacted the McCain camp and tried to jump on the don't-play-my-song bandwagon. Foo Fighters have protested the use of "My Hero" at campaign stops, such as the McCain stump last week in La Crosse. Jackson Browne filed a lawsuit to stop the Ohio state GOP from using his "Running on Empty" tune to attack Barack Obama, as did John Mellencamp, who complained about "Pink Houses" being used to mock Obama.

Regardless of which party pays for the podium, Van Halen objects to the use of any of its songs -- particularly "Right Now" -- for political purposes. The Grateful Dead generally avoided politics until Jerry Garcia died.

This whole rock-turned-politics gimmick really took off when Bill Clinton sparked a huge resurgence for the Fleetwood Mac song "Don't Stop" during his 1992 campaign. It might even have led to the group's reunion five years later. Lindsey Buckingham and his bandmates have seen their careers resurrected since then, as well. A stir was caused in 1984 when Bruce Springsteen balked at Ronald Reagan's campaign playing "Born in the USA" and entirely missing the point of the song.

In McCain's La Crosse appearance, the audience was serenaded with Stevie Ray Vaughan's "The House is Rockin'," and we're not quite sure how it relates to GOP values. After all, "When the house is a rockin,' don't bother knockin' " isn't exactly a featured plank in the GOP platform unless there's something the Palin people aren't telling us. McCain entered with the standard "Danger Zone," which is the theme from "Top Gun." A few Top Gun signs waved in the crowd.

The campaigns argue that they have paid the license fees to use the tunes and some of that money trickles down to the artists. The bottom line, however, is if the musicians don't speak up, some fans will equate the campaign playlists with tacit approval for the party platform.

Art Delay: Standing in line to vote can be exceedingly boring and tedious. State Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale) wants to keep it that way.

An innovative idea from some Milwaukee artists to offer performance art to entertain voters drew a cold response from Stone.

My Vote Performs is a group of Milwaukee artists and teachers ready to liven up the polling lines. The plan is to perform at 12 different polling locations in the city.

According to the group's Web site, "The performance art pieces will be about citizenship and voting. The artists involved represent three decades of Milwaukee's finest performance artists. At most sites artists are creating five 10-minute pieces that will be presented every 20-30 minutes ... Projects will include dance, recorded sound, original music, puppetry, video, interactive sculpture and storytelling."

There are plans for some John Philip Sousa tunes and the highly-controversial "On Wisconsin" to be involved. Not exactly voter intimidation.

Stone asked the Government Accountability Board to ban the performances, even though his district won't get any of the volunteer entertainment.

"The prospect of these events taking place at or near polling locations in Milwaukee is misguided. The focus of the polling locations should be fully on the accurate processing of the vote, not on the entertainment of the voters," stated Stone. "The potential for disruptions and other issues should eliminate this as a possible occurrence on election day."

Yep, he's kind of a prude.

The Milwaukee Election Commission has given its nod of approval for what seems like an innovative idea for a normally tedious affair. The show runs from 4 to 8 p.m.

Some performances planned include:

• Rock, Paper Scissors: "The performance centers around the first-ever election in the Republic of Neutralia. Three candidates have put themselves forward for the illustrious position of public office: Rock, Paper and Scissors. An eager local news crew will cover the candidates, their followers, and visiting diplomats. All of the characters, from the reporter and his camera, to the peanut gallery of supporters, to the candidates themselves, will be puppets. The artists will improvise scenes within a structured storyline."
  It will be performed at the Charles Allis Museum voting location.
• The Pulaski Poll voting location features a performance from the Wild Space Dance Company called "Line Up / On the Boards / Dive In." According to the description, "Three dancers will be inside the Pulaski Pool performing on the pool deck and diving boards. The three dancers explore highly stylized gestures and movements of voting, including counting, taking one's turn, lining up, making decision and waiting for the results."
• At the Department of Neighborhood Services voting location in District 13,"The Tally" will take place from noon to 4. "Two large, functional Jacob's Ladders will be suspended on either side of the main entrance. The flipping action of the ladders may be interpreted as two contending opponents, representing the competitive nature of the presidential race and the tension that voters experience while watching the election results unfold. One performer will direct the two other performers who will activate their ladders in response to his orders. The performance will appear to correspond to votes being tallied."

Lacking Youth for Council: The Milwaukee Youth Council has been defunct for almost two years. It was designed as a way for Milwaukee youth to get a taste of City Hall politics, mainly passing resolutions on various positions -- sort of like their adult counterparts. Lack of interest made it a one-year deal.

For the past year, the council has been in limbo as a new recruiting strategy was developed. Seems there are not too many young people in Milwaukee interested in playing politics, even in the ornate chambers of City Hall.

The man behind the Youth Council, Ald. Joe Davis, has taken it upon himself to tour Milwaukee public high schools to persuade student councils to send some candidates for the council. The council was made up of a representative of each aldermanic district.

The alderman also wants students in private or charter schools in the city to get involved, although his tour for now is focused strictly on MPS.