What bio topics would you like cleared up?

[Partridge]

Are there any areas of Linda's life that you would like to
be addressed in her memoir?

Apparently the publisher is wanting more personal detail
to flesh out her musical life.

I was just reading this about June Carter's concern over
Linda Ronstadt's panties:
boards.elsaelsa.com/topic/possesive-women-june-carter-smacks-down-linda-ronstadt-over-johnny-cash
I would like for Linda to cover this topic. Truth or BS?
Borderline sordid and somewhat amusing, whatever the truth.

I would like for her to address just what bug is up
Jann Wenner's keister. She knows what his problem
is, and she needs to spill it.

And for that matter, did she have some kind of a run-in
with Dave Marsh? He turned on her pretty quickly. He
got rabid after she went to Sun City, but I wonder why
this wanna-be rocker singled out Ronstadt, among all
the thousands of artists, to berate mercilessly. Maybe
she has a clue.

And then there is the very model of a modern major a-whole-
Elvis Costello. He complained so much about Linda's version of
Alison, but really it wasn't bad at all. Certainly better than
Carlene Carter's Radio Sweetheart, and even better than
Rachel Sweet's Stranger in the House. I suppose the difference
was Linda was a multi-platinum artist that he could take down
a few pegs, and he had to demonstrate a punk-ass attitude. Although Linda actually spoke well of him a couple of weeks ago, he'll always be an ass in my book. What could she make of him
in her book?

I'd like to see some reason why she removed herself almost
completely from the creative community. I get the sense you'd
almost have to hire a private investigator to locate her just
to ask for her help on a collaboration.

[jhar26]

I've long since forgiven Costello for his comments. Although he was never a punk rocker, his public, or a substantial portion of it, was part of the same demographic in those days and he only tried to prove his 'street credibility.' It was considered cool in those circles not to like millionaire rock stars from the California scene - or established stars of any kind, no matter where they came from or what they did really. It was just a case of Elvis trying to add to his angry young man credentials. But he and many others like him have long since realized how silly all that was. Costello has sorta appologized for his comments, members of the Clash have said that the Who was their favorite band, Johnny Rotten loves Abba and Patti Smith listens to Beethoven's string quartets and goes to the Metropolitan opera and is into Wagner these days. So all's well that ends well.

[Deleted]

Don't know about the other stuff, but Elvis C did seem genuinely contrite about his comments calling her a 'great lady' as I recall.. Elvis was indeed playing his iconoclastic role - this is a man who made racial slurs about Ray Charles, after all..

[musicaamator]

Agreed with all that's been stated so far, but as for me, hope she expounds her thoughts about the man in black, Johnny Cash. I believe she made three appearances on his show, plus the Behind Prison Walls concert, so I am sure she regarded him dearly and perhaps a father figure. He seemed very complimentary of her in the times he introduced her on his shows.

Maybe too she can state how she really felt performing in front of those prisoners, being an attractive female in that setting. I'd be nervous as hell.

[the Scribe]

It is amazing how much she cleared up in her recent Grace interview i.e. how she managed to NOT finish high school and go to UofA for a semester (and NOT ASU) and her take on religion with one short sentence.

I will begin to make a list.

[sliderocker]

I've kind of got my doubts Linda ever had any kind of run-in with Dave Marsh or Jann Wenner, unless it was that both men wanted dates with her and she just wasn't interested in either. Or maybe both of them held the belief that only guys could be serious rock and rollers. I've known a few male rock musicians and many of them were sexist about female singer-musicians, especially their playing capabilities. Too many had the "no woman can outplay a man on any instrument" BS going, when that clearly was not true. Ann and Nancy Wilson in their auto-biography write of the sexist attitudes they dealt with in dealings with members of other groups. I think Linda definitely had her run in with sexist male musicians - in her own bands no less. I recall a mention in an interview about one of those bands where one of her musicians was trying to take over her show on a particular tour, speaking to the audience and thanking them after they'd played. Had I been Linda's manager, that tour would've been postponed and I would've fired the musician on the spot. That took a lot of gall to do something like that.

But, as for what Linda's publisher is wanting, maybe she has focused too much on the music and not enough about her personal life. Most autobiographies follow the same kind of pattern, which is a mix of the celebrity's professional life and personal life. Writing too much about the professional side of one's life can make the celebrity seem less like a person and more like a product, which Linda clearly is not. Linda values her privacy but I don't think that means revealing anything about her sex life or anything which she regards as too personal. But, I think she could talk about her childhood, her takes on politics and religion, her musical influences - including within her own family and her external influences, what she thought about the music and the artists she had to compete with for sales, what she thinks about what's happening in the music world today.

My curiosity about Linda is that I want to know about her as a person, and not necessarily for her celebrity life, although there is that too. I don't want to put on any misconceptions about her in any way - that she's this way or she's that way. That's making Linda in our image or in our thoughts of what we want her to be, and we have no right to do that. In doing so, we reduce her as a human being with those misconceptions. There may be some small degree of truth in what we think about Linda as a person but like all human beings, Linda is a complex individual. We also don't know Linda personally; some of us may have been lucky to have met her in person but is there really anyone on here who has been friends with her for a long time? So, we can't really say we know what Linda is like as a person but it may be, that her publisher is wanting her to give her readers some idea of what she is like as a person beyond Linda the celebrity.

[jhar26]

Feb 26, 2013 17:34:31 GMT -5 sliderocker said:

I've kind of got my doubts Linda ever had any kind of run-in with Dave Marsh or Jann Wenner, unless it was that both men wanted dates with her and she just wasn't interested in either. Or maybe both of them held the belief that only guys could be serious rock and rollers. I've known a few male rock musicians and many of them were sexist about female singer-musicians, especially their playing capabilities. Too many had the "no woman can outplay a man on any instrument" BS going, when that clearly was not true.

No, that definitely is not true. I know quite a few female classical musicians who could outplay any male rock musician in history with one hand tied behind their back. ....





....ok mr. rockmusician, your turn. Show us how superior your sex really is.

[Deleted]

Or the pop music arena as well

[erik]

Quote by sliderocker:

But, as for what Linda's publisher is wanting, maybe she has focused too much on the music and not enough about her personal life. Most autobiographies follow the same kind of pattern, which is a mix of the celebrity's professional life and personal life. Writing too much about the professional side of one's life can make the celebrity seem less like a person and more like a product, which Linda clearly is not. Linda values her privacy but I don't think that means revealing anything about her sex life or anything which she regards as too personal. But, I think she could talk about her childhood, her takes on politics and religion, her musical influences - including within her own family and her external influences, what she thought about the music and the artists she had to compete with for sales, what she thinks about what's happening in the music world today.

I think all of that would make for the best kind of memoir, especially with a focus on how she related to her (almost overwhelmingly) male musician friends as musicians, and the inevitable sexism, of which there had to be a fair amount. And I definitely would like to hear her expand more on today's music scene--the good; the bad; and, yes, the ugly.

[sliderocker]

Feb 26, 2013 18:57:16 GMT -5 erik said:

I think all of that would make for the best kind of memoir, especially with a focus on how she related to her (almost overwhelmingly) male musician friends as musicians, and the inevitable sexism, of which there had to be a fair amount. And I definitely would like to hear her expand more on today's music scene--the good; the bad; and, yes, the ugly.

With regard to the sexist attitudes some of the male musicians may have had, I can only imagine she may not have liked the situation as it was, but I wonder if she felt some intimidation? Because those were different times, and I think she had spoken in the past about finding it difficult to be in charge, especially a woman in charge. I kind of wonder if she remembers the name of the musician who tried to take charge on the stage? I also wonder how long did he last as a musician in her band? And I'm guessing the only reason the musician may have possibly gotten away with it was because she had difficulty being in charge. I don't know though, maybe he didn't get away with it and was let go immediately by Linda's manager. It would be nice to know the outcome of that story.

Given what Linda said a few years ago about most modern country music being mall crawler music, I can only imagine her feelings haven't changed that much as most of today's country doesn't sound like country at all. I'd be curious to know what she thought about the country music scene when she was just starting and whether she liked what she heard in the 70s or was the cutoff point for Linda sometime in the early 60s? Another thing I've noticed which I find curious is that for someone with a supposed dislike of rock and roll these days, she still seems to like some rock and roll, maybe more than she lets on. Maybe she did feel a little too old to be singing rock when she got into her 40s and older, but all she had to do was look at her contemporaries who were still singing (and playing) rock and roll and with no apologies. Of course, maybe she just felt she couldn't do rock songs justice anymore and wasn't enamored with always singing countryish ballads, especially of the mall crawler variety.

[erik]

Quote by sliderocker:

Given what Linda said a few years ago about most modern country music being mall crawler music, I can only imagine her feelings haven't changed that much as most of today's country doesn't sound like country at all. I'd be curious to know what she thought about the country music scene when she was just starting and whether she liked what she heard in the 70s or was the cutoff point for Linda sometime in the early 60s? Another thing I've noticed which I find curious is that for someone with a supposed dislike of rock and roll these days, she still seems to like some rock and roll, maybe more than she lets on. Maybe she did feel a little too old to be singing rock when she got into her 40s and older, but all she had to do was look at her contemporaries who were still singing (and playing) rock and roll and with no apologies. Of course, maybe she just felt she couldn't do rock songs justice anymore and wasn't enamored with always singing countryish ballads, especially of the mall crawler variety.

Just to clarify about her "mall crawler music" comments about country: she made them ten years ago, in the now-defunct Country Music Magazine, shortly after her Very Best Of compilation CD had been released on Rhino. She admitted that she was bothered by country radio's increasingly constrictive playlists, which, to her ears, no longer allowed for either the traditional sounds she loved while growing up in Arizona or the progressive values she espoused in her own approach. I don't think the "cut-off" date for country music with her was really until fairly recently, and even then I think it was just for the way Nashville does things. The alt-country/Americana approach is more up her alley (Gillian Welch; Buddy and Julie Miller, etc.).

As for rock and roll, I think at least some of Linda's trouble with reconciling that aspect of her popularity once again has to do with the fact that she did tons of arena and stadium concerts, and the backwash of a previous act's instrumental solos from the night before was so repetitious for her that it dampened her enthusiasm for rock. She is right, I believe, in that arenas and stadiums are no good for music of any kind, even rock and roll, and that the only reason you do them is for the money. Subliminally, however, I think she seems to realize that, apart from that unfortunate aspect, she made a lot of timeless rock music which has influenced four generations of like-minded female artists, so she must have done something right.

[the Scribe]

but all she had to do was look at her contemporaries who were still singing (and playing) rock and roll and with no apologies.

Perhaps that is because they couldn't stretch their talents outside of Rock, perhaps they were not risk takers and felt comfortable staying in their little niches and were adverse to failure. Linda already had the wings she just needed to fly.

[jhar26]

Feb 27, 2013 10:18:31 GMT -5 the Scribe said:

but all she had to do was look at her contemporaries who were still singing (and playing) rock and roll and with no apologies.

Perhaps that is because they couldn't stretch their talents outside of Rock, perhaps they were not risk takers and felt comfortable staying in their little niches and were adverse to failure. Linda already had the wings she just needed to fly.

Most of them write their own material. I can't imagine anyone being able to write rock or country songs one day, than compose an operetta, going from there to write jazz and traditional pop songs and writing mariachi songs inbetween all of that. Linda is blessed with a miraculous voice that allowed her to move from one thing to the other, but a songwriter can't be THAT versatile.

[Dianna]

Feb 27, 2013 13:09:05 GMT -5 jhar26 said:

Feb 27, 2013 10:18:31 GMT -5 the Scribe said:

but all she had to do was look at her contemporaries who were still singing (and playing) rock and roll and with no apologies.

Perhaps that is because they couldn't stretch their talents outside of Rock, perhaps they were not risk takers and felt comfortable staying in their little niches and were adverse to failure. Linda already had the wings she just needed to fly.

Most of them write their own material. I can't imagine anyone being able to write rock or country songs one day, than compose an operetta, going from there to write jazz and traditional pop songs and writing mariachi songs inbetween all of that. Linda is blessed with a miraculous voice that allowed her to move from one thing to the other, but a songwriter can't be THAT versatile.

well, this is true .. I am not a songwriter but I can also see if I did have that talent and were in their shoes even for the sake of ego I'd stick to what I knew best..Like Rob said, being without that responsibility Linda had freedom to roam.

[sliderocker]

Just to clarify about her "mall crawler music" comments about country: she made them ten years ago, in the now-defunct Country Music Magazine, shortly after her Very Best Of compilation CD had been released on Rhino. She admitted that she was bothered by country radio's increasingly constrictive playlists, which, to her ears, no longer allowed for either the traditional sounds she loved while growing up in Arizona or the progressive values she espoused in her own approach. I don't think the "cut-off" date for country music with her was really until fairly recently, and even then I think it was just for the way Nashville does things. The alt-country/Americana approach is more up her alley (Gillian Welch; Buddy and Julie Miller, etc.).

Country's constrictive playlists was mirroring rock radio's own constrictive playlist, and my guess would be that R&B/soul/rap stations were just as constrictive. But, there's a certain irony about no longer being able to hear traditional country sounds on the radio because there were a lot of country artists making the same charge - country artists who were part of the musical scene they objected to. To me, sometimes their arguments reeked of the "old time rock and roll" sentiment: they liked the old stuff but the old stuff doesn't have a large market. The majority of any oldies reissues doesn't sell in the hundreds of thousands or in the millions, it may only sell in the hundreds and tens of thousands.

I don't know if Linda ever had a cut-off date but I assume that if she did, it was sometime in the early 60s. That's basing it on what she herself recorded as a solo artist from 1969 through the early 80s. She didn't really record any country songs in the late 60s and 70s that were written during that time. Not unless you consider Jackson Browne, Neil Young, Karla Bonoff, Kate and Anna McGarrigle and J.D. Souther to be country songwriters, which I really don't consider any of them to be. Most of the country stuff she did was pretty old, and I don't think anyone could've gotten her to record any country song out of Nashville that was current at the time. Not that I blame her for not doing so as a lot of what passed for country in the late 60s and 70s was some supervanilla stuff. Much of it really bland and mainly suitable for the singers who recorded them.


As for rock and roll, I think at least some of Linda's trouble with reconciling that aspect of her popularity once again has to do with the fact that she did tons of arena and stadium concerts, and the backwash of a previous act's instrumental solos from the night before was so repetitious for her that it dampened her enthusiasm for rock. She is right, I believe, in that arenas and stadiums are no good for music of any kind, even rock and roll, and that the only reason you do them is for the money. Subliminally, however, I think she seems to realize that, apart from that unfortunate aspect, she made a lot of timeless rock music which has influenced four generations of like-minded female artists, so she must have done something right.

Maybe so, yet I don't think every venue she played was a stadium or an arena. And not every stadium or arena in the US hosted some music event from the night before. Sometimes weeks might pass before another musical event was held but if a band was playing extremely loud, it might be that only a stadium or arena could withstand the energy being unleashed by the rock music. Linda made a lot of timeless rock music yet she wasn't comfortable with thinking of herself as a rock singer. I don't know if she really had worked it out herself what musical genre she wanted to be. Maybe she wanted to be like Elvis, who didn't want to be pigeonholed into being a certain kind of singer because it was too limiting. But, as with Elvis, it was rock and roll that brought Linda to the forefront. Not the country material and not the standards. Had Linda recorded the standards after the Stone Poneys, her record sales likely would've been about the same as what they were for the countryish material.

[sliderocker]

Feb 27, 2013 10:18:31 GMT -5 the Scribe said:

Perhaps that is because they couldn't stretch their talents outside of Rock, perhaps they were not risk takers and felt comfortable staying in their little niches and were adverse to failure. Linda already had the wings she just needed to fly.

That or perhaps they just wanted to stay with what they were comfortable with doing, and doing what their public wanted them to do. The problem with doing that is you can get in a rut doing the same old thing over and over again. Or, assume you take the chance and do something different, you run the risk that you may fall flat on your face and be unsuccessful. Or be successful yet find a certain segment of the population hates it. And the audience is most fickle and many do hate change of any kind, and you really can't blame an artist for staying in a certain groove.

[erik]

Linda may have recorded a lot of older country material on her albums, but that doesn't necessarily mean she disdained contemporary country material completely, at least not in the 70s ("I Will Always Love You", although she framed that Dolly Parton song as a California country-rock ballad). On her 1995 album Feels Like Home, she covered Matraca Berg's "Walk On", much to Matraca's delight (the Nashville-based songwriter to the [country] stars is a huge fan). And she has had great things to say about Trisha Yearwood and the Dixie Chicks. But probably by 2003, Linda just didn't feel like country radio was as diverse as it was when she was at her peak.

As for rock and roll--true, not all of her concerts were set in stadiums or arenas, but a lot of them were; and maybe in her mind, she could hear three day-old guitar solos in the rafters. Rightly or wrongly, that's how she felt; and while I can only speculate, I do think it diminished her love for rock and roll. If she could have made as much money doing it in traditional concert halls, it wouldn't necessarily have meant that she wouldn't make albums full of standards and Mexican mariachi as she in fact did, but it may have kept her enthusiasm for rock intact.

[sliderocker]

Linda may have recorded a lot of older country material on her albums, but that doesn't necessarily mean she disdained contemporary country material completely, at least not in the 70s ("I Will Always Love You", although she framed that Dolly Parton song as a California country-rock ballad). On her 1995 album Feels Like Home, she covered Matraca Berg's "Walk On", much to Matraca's delight (the Nashville-based songwriter to the [country] stars is a huge fan). And she has had great things to say about Trisha Yearwood and the Dixie Chicks. But probably by 2003, Linda just didn't feel like country radio was as diverse as it was when she was at her peak.

I don't think she had a dislike of all contemporary country in the late 60s and 70s but that there was very little on her albums seemed to be very telling. Of course, maybe the deal was that because she was California based and recorded most of the time in California instead of out of Nashville, maybe that would've had something to do with the lack of contemporary country songs on her albums. I don't think Nashville based music publishers sent demos to singers living n California. There was always that kind of snobbishness going on in Nashville, that you had to live and/or record there and that country had to come out of Nashville. So, maybe it wasn't that Linda disliked contemporary country so much as it was Nashville's great reluctance to share a great tune with someone not from Nashville or recording there.

As for rock and roll--true, not all of her concerts were set in stadiums or arenas, but a lot of them were; and maybe in her mind, she could hear three day-old guitar solos in the rafters. Rightly or wrongly, that's how she felt; and while I can only speculate, I do think it diminished her love for rock and roll. If she could have made as much money doing it in traditional concert halls, it wouldn't necessarily have meant that she wouldn't make albums full of standards and Mexican mariachi as she in fact did, but it may have kept her enthusiasm for rock intact.

It's possible that playing the stadiums and arenas did diminish her enthusiasm for rock and roll, yet maybe she wasn't satisfied with her own performances or didn't like the band having to play at a loud volume and then have to sing over that. She wouldn't have been the first rock performer to have had difficulty hearing herself. I recall seeing quite a few photos of singers in the 70s with one hand cupped to their ear so they could hear their own voice. I also heard of one well known 70s singer who went off key on a few songs because she couldn't hear herself at all because the music was so loud. Of course, nowadays, artists have better monitors and hearing devices they can wear in one ear and hear themselves sing. Maybe if Linda was playing stadiums and arenas today, she might feel different because the technology has improved to compenate for the shortcomings of certain venues.