Michael Jackson and former President Bill Clinton went uptown on Wednesday. Reuters reports that the odd couple -- along with Tony Bennett, k.d. lang and Reuben Blades -- attracted some 1,400 Democratic supporters to New York's famed Apollo Theater in Harlem and raised $2.7 million for the Democratic National Committee. (The Apollo is under the management of AOL Time Warner, which owns PEOPLE.) The money will go toward voter registration, party officials told the wire service. Jackson, 43, making a rare public appearance and sporting a sparkling white jacket, performed only briefly, and Clinton spoke only briefly. (The former chief executive did not perform on the saxophone, as many hoped he would.) Clinton, 55, said, "With all the stuff going on in the world, Sept. 11, turmoil in the Middle East, conflicts all over the world, we're in America trying to build a community in which everybody can respect his or her own race or religion and still be a part of a larger community. The only way we can do that is if everybody feels that he or she has a part of the citizenship pie."