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Post by the Scribe on Jul 23, 2013 18:37:57 GMT -5
The righties felt very empowered after that Supreme Court stolen election, FOX news lying to them, the war mongering bloodlust that was feeding the right wing thirst for the red stuff, the daily use of 9/11 into some bizarre rallying call (even though they were responsible for it), daily terror alerts, enrichment of war profiteers and Republican cronies, etc. so when this so called has-been upstart Ronstadt challenged these freaks some went ballistic and FOX and the right wing NOISE MACHINE made an international incident out of nothing. That is their m.o. even today. Remember when one grade school principal in some podunk school disallowed a Christmas tree on school premises? The next thing you know on every right wing media outlet the word is that the evil Liberals are at war with Christmas. These people are terrified, hysterical overly dramatic bullies. It is really embarrassing. About half of registered Republicans are composed of these people. You gotta wonder what the other half are thinking about their bretheren?
Linda actually came out looking pretty good on this as she kept her calm and the crazies all overreacted in a long line of such behavior.
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Post by Richard W on Jul 23, 2013 19:14:37 GMT -5
The righties felt very empowered after that Supreme Court stolen election, FOX news lying to them, the war mongering bloodlust that was feeding the right wing thirst for the red stuff, the daily use of 9/11 into some bizarre rallying call (even though they were responsible for it), daily terror alerts, enrichment of war profiteers and Republican cronies, etc. so when this so called has-been upstart Ronstadt challenged these freaks some went ballistic and FOX and the right wing NOISE MACHINE made an international incident out of nothing. That is their m.o. even today. Remember when one grade school principal in some podunk school disallowed a Christmas tree on school premises? The next thing you know on every right wing media outlet the word is that the evil Liberals are at war with Christmas. These people are terrified, hysterical overly dramatic bullies. It is really embarrassing. About half of registered Republicans are composed of these people. You gotta wonder what the other half are thinking about their bretheren? Linda actually came out looking pretty good on this as she kept her calm and the crazies all overreacted in a long line of such behavior. Amen, bro. |
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Post by sliderocker on Jul 24, 2013 3:49:30 GMT -5
]Even though Linda had largely been out of the spotlight since, perhaps, the Millennium Concert in L.A. as 1999 became 2000, the matter of Linda's politics was still not a state secret. If they really wanted to, they could have unloaded on her at Wolftrap in Virginia two and a half weeks earlier, when she began making the dedication and got a lot of catcalls for her "trouble." They didn't, however. It all was unleashed in Las Vegas, which makes the whole thing seem so extremely bizarre, a black comedy of sorts if you want to look at it that way. The mass media either got the whole thing wrong, or told the rest of the world lies based on what came out of Fox News, right-wing AM talk radio, and the blogosphere about it. That something like that happened in Las Vegas is extremely bizarre but the whole thing smelled of a right wing conspiracy to put liberal minded celebrities like Linda in their place. It seemed like the right was hellbent on silencing the critics of Bush and Cheney by whatever means possible including intimidation and resorting to Hitler's Big Lie technique: the more you tell/spread a lie, the more people believe the lie rather than the truth - Fox News and the kings and queens of right wing AM talk radio have the Big Lie technique down pat. Sadly, the more liberal news media has gotten to the point where they just don't care to dig deep enough to expose the lies. I sometimes wonder what it will take to wake them up? |
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Post by eddiejinnj on Jul 24, 2013 7:11:23 GMT -5
the audience was already somewhat unhappy as the concert was not advertised correctly. so I guess that is the conspiracy. we'll advertise the concert wrong. then have Linda dedicate a song to Michael Moore. then we'll trash her in the media (though there were a number of people who thought it no big deal in the media and/or agreed with Linda and I have read such items). this probably boils down to a few drunk people who got their feathers ruffled for whatever reason including linda singing standards. they may have come to her show to let loose etc. anyway, everybody have a great day!!!!!eddiejinnj
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Post by sliderocker on Jul 24, 2013 13:57:39 GMT -5
the audience was already somewhat unhappy as the concert was not advertised correctly. so I guess that is the conspiracy. we'll advertise the concert wrong. then have Linda dedicate a song to Michael Moore. then we'll trash her in the media (though there were a number of people who thought it no big deal in the media and/or agreed with Linda and I have read such items). this probably boils down to a few drunk people who got their feathers ruffled for whatever reason including linda singing standards. they may have come to her show to let loose etc. anyway, everybody have a great day!!!!!eddiejinnj I figure some of the patrons may have been unhappy with the concert being advertised as "Linda sings her hits," and then she comes out and says, "Oh no, I don't know anything about that. I'm going to sing songs from the 20s, 30s and 40s!" I can see where people might have been disappointed But, as for Linda dedicating a song to Michael Moore, if it had just been one person getting his nose out of joint about the dedication, it would've been one thing. But, some of the others who got up and left were also said to have been miffed about the dedication, and something just didn't add up about that. Maybe the conservatives in her audience didn't get together and decide to publicly embarrass her, but there was a lot of intolerance during that time directed towards those who didn't worship the ground Bush and Cheney walked on or hold extremely conservative views. There still is a lot of intolerance by people who only want to hear what they think being expressed by others and that everyone else just needs to shut the hell up. True, they may have been "drunk" when they had their feathers ruffled in Vegas but this is something we don't know for certain. People sometimes do things when they're drunk that they wouldn't do while sober. And imho, they were sober enough to understand Linda's dedication and what she was saying during that dedication. But, even if one didn't agree with her politics, one should've had the good manners to let it go. What that guy did was rude. It was Linda's show and her right to whatever she wanted and say whatever she wanted. And what that person did - whoever he was - and the others who agreed with him, whether they were drunk or sober, was ruin the show for others who may or may not have cared about Linda's politics, and who may have been unhappy with the fact her setlist didn't include her hits but who still wanted to see and hear her. I would've been unhappy with Linda not doing any of her hits but I would've been happy hear Linda sing anything, even songs I didn't like. Her singing songs from the 20s, 30s and 40s wouldn't have bothered me as I like a lot of the music from those eras. |
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Post by Dianna on Jul 24, 2013 16:08:31 GMT -5
When I saw her in costa mesa.. 2005 or 06 can't remember but it was after the vegas incident, she dedicated get out of town to george bush.. the people around me just laughed and it was no big deal.. orange county ca is pretty conservative.
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Post by the Scribe on Jul 24, 2013 16:36:20 GMT -5
When I saw her in costa mesa.. 2005 or 06 can't remember but it was after the vegas incident, she dedicated get out of town to george bush.. the people around me just laughed and it was no big deal.. orange county ca is pretty conservative. She took a poll of support while in Phoenix. I was waiting for her to do that and was ready to vocalize at just the right time which I did and she nodded in approval. |
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Post by eddiejinnj on Jul 24, 2013 17:59:39 GMT -5
I went to a show or 2 with those dedications after the event and there was no walking out or anything. eddiejinnj
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Post by erik on Jul 24, 2013 18:16:12 GMT -5
Quote by Dianna:
I recall reading about that; it was not long after her appearance at the Universal Amphitheatre here in Los Angeles in July 2006. By that time, Bush's popularity, and that of his party, had plummeted thanks to Bush's "Brownie, you're doin' a heckuva job" debacle with Katrina. The people down there in Reagan/Nixon/John Wayne country had been chastened, even if it was only for the moment.
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Post by Partridge on Aug 13, 2013 21:51:37 GMT -5
I was hoping that my next article posted would be something apolitical, but I ran across this one that I've been looking for. It contains the original quote from Linda that has been twisted to say that she does not want Christians and Republicans in her audience. And maybe she did say that to a reporter. At the time, Linda had a bad habit of coming up with a few phrases that she would spout off in every interview, and maybe she said this to a later reporter and got her tongue twisted.
At any rate, here is yet another article from 2004, from the LA Times, that ran a couple of days after the Las Vegas incident:
link: LA Times article
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Post by erik on Aug 13, 2013 22:12:02 GMT -5
The evangelical Christians (the ones who watch Pat Robertson every day of the week) and the Republicans (who get their "news" from Fox) were inevitably going to find something to b**ch about in Linda's comments, because it's the only way they can prove they're still breathing.
But I do think that Linda sometimes utters some things that, for lack of a better word, are "hocked up" and that come back to bite her at some point, maybe not instantly but down the road somewhere nevertheless. This whole Vegas imbroglio was a very fine line for her to walk, and I think she knew that, which is why she didn't choose to exploit it for too long.
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Post by the Scribe on Aug 14, 2013 13:05:32 GMT -5
"We have to stick together," she said. "I just think we can't take this lying down. It's like the Weimar republic.... These [neo-conservative] people are taking over the government. People are sound asleep, and I don't think this is the time to back down."
Linda Ronstadt
I finally found this one that set the record straight from Linda herself. I had been looking for it forever:
JULY 21, 2004
Reports of casino incident not accurate, Ronstadt says
DANIEL BUCKLEY
Tucson Citizen
Singer Linda Ronstadt was not asked to leave a Las Vegas casino Saturday after she endorsed Michael Moore's controversial film "Fahrenheit 9/11," the Tucson native told the Tucson Citizen yesterday.
And she was not booed off the stage by a concert crowd that had erupted in mayhem, she said.
Speaking by phone from San Francisco, Ronstadt said that she left the Aladdin Resort & Casino immediately after the concert and was not aware that the management was irritated by her comments until an hour after she left the show.
Aladdin management declined to comment on the incident yesterday, referring the Citizen to a statement issued Monday.
The statement reads, in part:
"Ms. Ronstadt was hired to entertain the guests of the Aladdin, not to espouse her political views. In an effort to diffuse the situation, Linda Ronstadt was asked to leave the property immediately following her performance."
Ronstadt says she has made the same pitch about Moore's film at each previous show in her summer tour, just before the encore, "Desperado." The audience reaction has been a mixture of boos and cheers, she said.
"I've been doing it all across the country, and I've never seen an audience response like this in my life. This country is so completely polarized," she said.
"As soon as I start singing, ‘Desperado,' they love (the song) and they start cheering, which they've done all through my career. That's how that works, and then I finish the song and I leave."
The Los Angeles Times and Associated Press reported that Ronstadt was escorted off the property, not allowed to return to her room and booed off the stage and that people were throwing drinks by the close of her show.
None of those things happened, she said.
By her account, she had originally planned to fly out after the show to the next city on the tour but a sinus problem prompted her doctor to cancel that plan. One of her aides then booked her a room at the Aladdin, which she never saw.
After the concert, she went backstage and was about to head to the car provided for her by the Aladdin when she was confronted by an Aladdin employee.
"This woman comes huffing up to me and says, ‘I'm afraid I can't let you leave.' I said, ‘What?' And she said, ‘You can't leave yet because the owner is on his way over here to talk to you.' " the singer said.
She declined and left for the Ritz-Carlton in her tour bus when the employee said the Aladdin car would not be allowed to leave, Ronstadt said.
"I thought she was going to read me my Miranda rights or make me start writing things on the blackboard," she said.
"I didn't know they were mad at me until we were gone, and I didn't know what they were mad at me about until about an hour later, when apparently they called up one of the people that was traveling with us and went, ‘She's talking about Michael Moore, and this is a place for entertainment, not politics,' " Ronstadt said.
She has received support from a number of other celebrities, and the Aladdin's new owner, the owners of Hard Rock Cafe, called to ask her back, she said.
"Michael Moore called me and said he would go with me. We could sing, ‘America the Beautiful' together and he would screen his movie for free for anyone who wants to come and see it," she said.
"Irving Azoff, who is the Eagles' manager, immediately pulled all his acts from the Aladdin. I've had phone calls and messages from all over. Elton John sent me flowers last night. Keith Richards, Sting - the list goes on and on of people pouring in support."
She insists she was only trying to get people to think.
"I think (celebrities) should try to get people to think. I think they need to bring information to the public, she said. "The American media has been completely hijacked by corporate interests. The news is so biased, and we've got to get it through any way that we can.
"Now I don't think somebody should take my word. Because I'm a singer doesn't necessarily make me an expert in world politics, though I'm well read. But I think my obligation at this point is to try to steer people into just thinking."
She notes that while some concert promoters have asked that she not endorse Moore's movie at their venues, there is no language in her contract prohibiting her from doing so.
"I'll damn well say what I please, as I always have," she says. "And if they cancel my show, they'll just be doing me a favor. They'll still have to pay me, and I could use a day off. I have no idea how ticket sales are going, and I never worry about record sales."
Apparently not everyone is upset with the soft-rock star.
Ronstadt sang to a full-house Tuesday night at Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, and the crowd reserved its longest and loudest ovation for her endorsement of Moore's film, the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday.
The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.
and this one:
July 21st, 2004 2:04 pm
Desperadoes
New York Times
Something went awry at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas last Saturday night. Linda Ronstadt did what she has done at several concerts across the country this summer. She dedicated the song "Desperado"- an encore - to Michael Moore and urged members of the audience to go see his new movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11."
Elsewhere, audiences have reacted to the mention of Mr. Moore by cheering, booing, walking out and sometimes glaring at one another in parking lots. At the Aladdin, a few audience members tore down posters, threw drinks and demanded their money back. According to one person who was present - William Timmins, the Aladdin's president - it was "a very ugly scene." Mr. Timmins promptly made it even uglier. He had Ms. Ronstadt ejected from the premises.
This behavior assumes that Ms. Ronstadt had no right to express a political opinion from the stage. It implies - for some members of the audience at least - that there is a philosophical contract that says an artist must entertain an audience only in the ways that audience sees fit. It argues, in fact, that an artist like Ms. Ronstadt does not have the same rights as everyone else.
Perhaps her praise for Mr. Moore, even at the very end of her show, did ruin the performance for some people. They have a right to voice their disapproval - to express their opinion as Ms. Ronstadt expressed hers and to ask for a refund. But if their intemperate behavior began to worry the management, then they were the ones who should have been thrown out and told never to return, not Ms. Ronstadt, who threatened, after all, only to sing.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2022 8:40:12 GMT -5
Linda being commendably pro-Democrat, could have been a target for Republican supporting etc critics.
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Post by erik on Jan 24, 2022 9:44:30 GMT -5
Quote by heartbreaker:
....which she actually was, following her advocacy of Michael Moore's film FAHRENHEIT 9/11 on the stage of the Aladdin in Las Vegas in 2004.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2022 10:12:51 GMT -5
How was & is Michael Moore regarded in the US, was/is he a polarising figure? I have seen his films which strike me as well made, but not being American myself...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2022 14:04:44 GMT -5
Reading this thread in 2022! "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"
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Post by guest on Apr 11, 2022 15:26:58 GMT -5
Reading this thread in 2022! "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" Is this thread not available? I would very much like to read it if for nothing else historical reasons: The more things change the more things stay the same...or get even worse when you read today's news in 2022. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2022 15:30:59 GMT -5
The old forum has long gone, might be on Wayback Machine possibly.
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