“Country Joe McDonald, who in 1969 at Woodstock, performed with his band Country Joe and Fish, will make an appearance at an election eve event at WICA next Monday. His famous four-letter cheer and songs such as his anti-Vietnam war anthem I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag, made him one of the most memorable cultural icons of the sixties. Election eve rallyCountry Joe McDonald and David Bennett Cohen, both members of the 1960s rock band Country Joe and the Fish, star in the Election Night Get-out-the-Vote Rally and Celebration on Monday, Nov. 6, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Whidbey Island Center for the Arts. Sharing the bill are island musicians Local Buddha and Barbara Dunn. Tickets are $12; call 221-8268. Proceeds will be donated to local nonprofits working with youth and the environment. This is a non-partisan event, and all candidates are invited to meet and greet the crowd. Any proceeds will be donated to local nonprofits working with youth and the environment.When Country Joe first appeared in Langley in 1972, he was already one of the musicians whose names were inextricably linked with the epic saga of Vietnam and the country’s protest against the war.Country Joe and the Fish had released their first album in October 1965, in time for the Vietnam Day Teach-In, a massive anti-war protest organized in Berkeley, Calif. The band’s second album, Electric Music for Mind and Body, contained the rock version of what was to become one of the great anthems of the era: the song, I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die Rag. And in 1969, Country Joe gained lifelong notoriety when he led an audience of a half-million at Woodstock in the infamous GIMEANF cheer.His first appearance on Whidbey was at the Clyde Theater in a benefit to assist single mother Janet O’Donnell in her legal troubles with the sheriff’s office. Since then he’s performed on several occasions at the Back of the Dog in Langley to enthusiastic full houses, most recently in 1992. And in 1984 he led his infamous cheer at South Whidbey High School.Now, in 2000, Country Joe is returning to Langley for an Election Night Get-out-the-Vote Rally and Celebration, on Nov. 6. With him on keyboard and guitar will be ex-Fish member David Bennett Cohen. The event starts at 7:30 p.m. Country Joe’s connection to South Whidbey is Mully Mullally, who met Joe when their daughters attended the same Berkeley preschool in 1970. Mully will introduce the show at WICA. Assisting in the hosting duties is South Whidbey environmental activist Jennifer Lail. Skip Demuth is coordinating the event. The playlist will include classic ’60s songs plus music from Country Joe’s repertoire from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, through his newest album, www.countryjoe.com, released on his own Rag Baby label and available through his Web site of the same name.And the program will also include his Fixin’ To Die Rag, which for many of his listeners made him the musical voice of the Vietnam Generation, both civilian and military.The song attempts to address the horror of going to war with a dark sarcastic form of humor called ‘GI humor,’ McDonald said. GI humor is a way people have of complaining about their situation so it will not get them in trouble and keep them from going insane in an insane environment: war. He’ll also sing his tribute to Janis Joplin, Janis, plus Save the Whales, and other favorites.Country Joe lives with his family (Kathy and two children) in Berkeley, where he’s active in Veterans’ activities, touring and performing. He successfully promoted a Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Berkeley and is working to accomplish the same thing in San Francisco.Just this past week he co-produced and participated in a week-long event out of Wayne State University in Detroit on issues important to Vietnam vets.It was about in 1981 that I was reminded by a friend that I was a veteran myself, said McDonald, who served in the Navy. I’ve consciously made it a part of my life to speak as a veteran for veterans.He is also an acknowledged expert on the life and times of Florence Nightingale. His wife Kathy and his brother are both nurses, and his Web site has a link to his own tribute to the life of that first military nurse.Country Joe says he is not big on the past. I don’t miss the past, or the negative aspects of the ’60s to the ’80s. The issues are much more interesting now — political, ecological, parental, he said. He does, however, miss the sense of community of the sixties.We had cooperative nurseries, collectives. We need to get that collectivism back, to relearn to share, he said.Anyone interested in learning more about the times of Country Joe, back in the Vietnam era through today, can visit his Web site: www.countryjoe.com. One of the links is to the interactive Berkeley Vietnam Memorial site, which gives vital statistics on all the Berkeley servicemen and women who died in that war. “