Vice President Kamala Harris is known for being a Hip-hop, soul and jazz fanaticBut now we know that he has dabbled in punk rock on at least one occasion. In a recent interview with EFEHarris' younger cousin, Sharada Balachandran Orihuela, recalled the two attending a Bad Religion show in the early 2000s.
Orihuela's father, Gopalan Balachandran, is Harris's maternal uncle, meaning they share the same Indian grandparents. Growing up between Mexico and India, Orihuela became a huge fan of Bad Religion, but never went to one of their concerts.
That all changed when Orihuela moved to Oakland, California, in 2001 to attend college. Orihuela went to live with her aunt (and Harris' mother) Shyamala, which allowed her to bond with her older cousin.
At the time, Harris was an assistant district attorney in San Francisco, but the future Democratic presidential candidate went out of her way to make Orihuela feel at home. “She was like an older sister to me,” Orihuela told Efe.
Orihuela’s first punk rock concert, a Bad Religion show in San Francisco, was one of the activities they shared. “I went to high school in India and there weren’t many punk rock concerts there,” he said. “I listened to their music on my Walkman and when I moved to the States, I thought I could go to all those concerts now.”
Harris' presidential campaign has received varying degrees of support from artists ranging from Charli XCX and P!NK to Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion to Bon Iver and Jason Isbell. Yo La Tengo has also auctioned off its availability for private concerts to benefit the Harris-Walz ticket.
Meanwhile, Bad Religion was scheduled to embark on a North American tour this fall but recently canceled due to “an unforeseen family circumstance.”
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