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Post by erik on Dec 6, 2019 9:49:04 GMT -5
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Post by the Scribe on Dec 6, 2019 16:04:46 GMT -5
Tucson's Linda Ronstadt honored with documentaryKGUN9 24.9K subscribers Tucson native and pop music icon Linda Ronstadt is honored with a documentary.Linda Ronstadt’s family reacts to new documentary on her lifeNow playing at the Loft Cinema Posted: 10:33 PM, Dec 05, 2019 Updated: 5:54 AM, Dec 06, 2019 By: Valerie Cavazos
TUCSON, Ariz. — Ten-time Grammy winner and Tucson native, Linda Ronstadt, now has her legacy preserved on film. A new documentary "Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice."
"The first day it came out in San Francisco she sneaked out of the house and wanted to check in out," Linda's cousin, Jim Ronstadt, said. "And she was very pleased with it."
He said despite repeated requests to document Ronstadt's life, she rejected them all before deciding on Academy Award winners Jeffrey Friendman and Rob Epstein.
"I thought it was wonderful," Jim Ronstadt said. "It depicted her very well and covered the early part of her life."
She grew up right here in Tucson, with a musical family who loved to sing, especially Mexican canciones.
"The family involvement and my grandfather's and her dad's interest in music had a great influence on her," Ronstadt said.
The documentary depicts not only how she developed her gift, but her wide-ranging tast in music.
"She was tough," Jim said. "She wanted to do it the way she wanted it done and she did."
Control is important for Ronstadt. That's a clear message in the documentary. Jim said it's important for people to know that she's a gutsy star who never comprimised.
"The influence she had on the music. The influence she had with women in music. It'll be here for a long time," Jim said.
"She was the first female rock and roll star. Try following Linda Ronstadt every night. But people didn't notice the difficulty of being a woman, trailblazing, and having the success of a Mick Jagger," several people spoke about Linda in the documentary. Including Linda Ronstadt herself: "The rock and roll culture seems to be dominated by hostility against women. They lose the ability to focus on themselves as a person."
KGUN 9 asked what Ronstadt's parents would have to say about her illustrious career.
"Very, very proud of her," Jim said.
Ronstadt's last public concert was a decade ago, before Parkinson's disease robbed her of her ability to really sing.
In a poignant moment at the close of the documentary, Ronstadt is heard singing as best she can with family members.
Tickets for the film are available at the Loft Cinema .
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Post by Dianna on Dec 20, 2019 4:34:00 GMT -5
I've watched it again for the Umteenth time lol. Once it airs on CNN, New Years Day.. I predict Linda will gain a whole lot more fans who are going to fall in love with her... Even if I were just a casual fan, I think I would really enjoy it and be very curious about her and her music.
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marka
A Number and a Name
Posts: 39
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Post by marka on Dec 20, 2019 7:52:31 GMT -5
If you’ve got Comcast for cable TV, you can already schedule your DVR to record the CNN presentation on January 1. I’m pretty sure it’s on at 9 pm — at least on the East Coast. I don’t know if it’s a one-time thing. It’s already available for “rent” or “purchase” on my system, which again is Comcast.
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Flip
A Number and a Name
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Post by Flip on Dec 21, 2019 9:06:23 GMT -5
Here is the schedule for the documentary airing on CNN (all times are Eastern):
1/1/2020 at 9:00 PM
1/2/2020 at 12:00 AM
1/4/2020 at 9:00 PM
1/5/2020 at 12:00 AM
In other words, it airs at 9 PM then again at midnight on both Wednesday, January 1 and Saturday, January 4. It's scheduled to run for 1 hour and 55 minutes, with a preview of The Windsors: Inside the Royal Dynasty airing in the last 5 minutes of the 2-hour block.
I wasn't able to catch it in a theater, so I'm really looking forward to being able to finally watch it!
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Post by eddiejinnj on Dec 21, 2019 10:11:41 GMT -5
Thanks for the feedback, marka. Thanks for the CNN schedule, Flip and welcome to the forum. eddiejinnj
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Flip
A Number and a Name
Posts: 6
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Post by Flip on Dec 21, 2019 10:22:45 GMT -5
Thank you for the welcome, eddiejinnj!
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Post by the Scribe on Dec 28, 2019 3:19:14 GMT -5
Odd coupling in the trending news.www.yahoo.com/news/trump-reportedly-hunt-mike-pompeos-151700726.html www.yahoo.com/entertainment/film-explores-ronstadts-life-wide-152147821.html www.yahoo.com/news/replace-mike-pompeo-champion-diplomacy-180000237.html Associated Press Film explores Ronstadt's life, wide-ranging music career Associated PressDecember 27, 2019, 8:21 AM MST
2019 Kennedy Center Honoree singer Linda Ronstadt arrives at the State Department for the Kennedy Center Honors State Department Dinner on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
FILE - This Feb. 20, 1977 file photo shows singer Linda Ronstadt is flanked by Ringo Starr, left, and Paul Williams after she was named best pop singer for her "Hasten Down the Wind" at The 19th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. A documentary, “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice,” will premiere on CNN on New Year's Day. (AP Photo)
FILE - This Aug. 5, 1979 file photo shows Linda Ronstadt performing during the Lowell George Tribute in Los Angeles. A documentary about her life, “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice,” will premiere on CNN on New Year's Day. (AP Photo)
2019 Kennedy Center honoree Linda Ronstadt attends the 42nd Annual Kennedy Center Honors at The Kennedy Center, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019, in Washington. (Photo by Greg Allen/Invision/AP)
Front row from left, 2019 Kennedy Center Honorees Michael Tilson Thomas, Linda Ronstadt, Sally Field, Joan Ganz Cooney, and Lloyd Morrisett, back row from left, Philip Bailey, Verdine White, Ralph Johnson, and characters from "Sesame Street," Abby Cadabby, Big Bird, and Elmo pose for a group photo following the Kennedy Center Honors State Department Dinner at the State Department on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf) 1 / 5 2019 Kennedy Center Honors 2019 Kennedy Center Honoree singer Linda Ronstadt arrives at the State Department for the Kennedy Center Honors State Department Dinner on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf) More NEW YORK (AP) — Between the Kennedy Center Honors and a CNN documentary about her life debuting on television New Year's Day, Linda Ronstadt is taking a career victory lap.
Ronstadt drew attention this month for a comment at a dinner for Kennedy honorees hosted by the State Department and Secretary Mike Pompeo. Ronstadt said she hadn't planned to mention the Trump administration but did so to show support for fellow honoree Sally Field. The actress had remarked about living in an era where the idea of truth was being challenged, Ronstadt said.
“Half the room applauded and the other half sat in silence,” Ronstadt recalled. “I just wanted to say that I was in solidarity with her. I didn't want her to stand up there by herself.”
During his remarks, Pompeo referenced a Ronstadt hit, “When Will I Be Loved," saying he wondered when he'd be loved. When it was Ronstadt's turn to speak, the 73-year-old retired singer tartly answered the question and said it would be "when he stops enabling Donald Trump.”
When will Ronstadt be loved? Now seems to be the time, with the well-received documentary, “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice." Viewers will see that Ronstadt's career had two distinct stages.
There was the rock star, sex symbol days with hits like “You're No Good,” “Heat Wave” and “Blue Bayou.” Part two began with her 1980 New York stage role in “The Pirates of Penzance,” ushering in adventurous projects featuring jazz standards, traditional Mexican recordings and trio discs with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton. Despite the fear of record company executives, many of the projects did quite well.
She now lives a quiet life in the San Francisco area, her singing voice stilled by Parkinson's Disease. Her last album, a collaboration with Cajun singer Ann Savoy that Ronstadt considers one of her best, was released in 2006. She performed her last concert in 2009.
“I didn't do the work for prizes. I never took that into consideration,” she said. The recent recognition is “lovely, you know. I'm glad they like it. I like some of it and don't like most of it. The good thing is it got better. My early work makes me cringe. Later on it got better.”
She also had an admirer in Amy Entelis, an executive at CNN.
“She was iconic in my life,” said Entelis, who is in charge of CNN Films, and therefore, in position to green light the Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman documentary. It's not charity work; biographies have done well for CNN's film division, most notably “RBG” about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and others are in the works on Anthony Bourdain and Julia Child.
Ronstadt hasn't been interested in cooperating with documentaries in the past but admired a film that Epstein had made about pioneering gay politician Harvey Milk.
Her participation was minimal, aside from narrating stories about her early life, including her Mexican heritage and family's musical background, and a key final scene. Plenty of compatriots in the 1970s Los Angeles music scene were happy to talk, most notably J.D. Souther and Harris.
Ronstadt has deep roots in that scene; an early backing band eventually morphed into the Eagles. She paid Don Henley $250 a week to play the drums.
One of the things Entelis appreciates about the film is that the music is given a chance to breathe, that it's not presented as an all-too-brief afterthought.
Filmmakers resisted the obvious temptation to make a tear-jerker, to completely frame it around the cruelty of a peerless singer no longer able to sing.
“My book doesn't even mention that I have Parkinson's, so they didn't dwell on it,” Ronstadt said, referring to her 2013 autobiography. “I don't think it would be very interesting. A lot of people get sick.”
Still, with the film nearly done, Entelis said it was clear there was something missing. That's what led to the final scene, which shows Ronstadt with her cousin and nephew in Mexico as they sing the song “A La Orilla de un Palmar.”
Harris says in the film that her old trio partner doesn't miss making records, but does miss singing. The ache in Ronstadt's eyes in that scene is where you can see what Harris means. Ronstadt mouths the words, but you can't really tell what comes out.
Entelis hopes for a large audience on New Year's Day, a strategically selected premiere date. On a day when people are relaxed and usually seeking an escape from news, entertainment-oriented films do well for CNN.
CNN released the film in theaters earlier this year, and it earned some $4.2 million, a strong showing for a documentary. “It's safe to say that surprised us,” Entelis said. “It's not that we didn't love the film and thought it would be good for CNN, but we did not expect it to take off theatrically in that way.”
It surprised Ronstadt, too.
“When they approached me, I thought it would be a documentary film that would have one night on PBS and that would be it,” she said in an interview.
“I'm glad people like it,” Ronstadt said. “Sometimes they like things that aren't very good and I think they only like it because they don't have good taste. I think I know what I did. I'm happy with the good things I did and I wish the other parts were better, but I did my best.”
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Post by the Scribe on Dec 29, 2019 2:44:41 GMT -5
How Could She Doubt It? davidguy.org/2019/10/07/how-could-she-doubt-it/
Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice a film by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. With Bonnie Raitt, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Jackson Browne. **** I missed much of the music of my generation. I was still in touch with mainstream culture through my college years (1966-70), and continued to listen to the radio while I was commuting and had a teaching job, through 1976. But early on, way early on—back in the early sixties—I became obsessed with Ray Charles and listened mostly to him and where his music led me, which of course was all over the place, the blues, R&B, jazz, big bands, country western, standard vocalists. I had weird eclectic tastes, listened to Leadbelly and Louis Armstrong when everybody else was following the current bands. For me rock and roll largely ended with the Beatles and Rolling Stones, and I go as far as Marvin Gaye in R&B, but not much further. I mostly listened to music by myself, wasn’t part of the concert scene even in college. Music meant too much to me.
So I was shocked at how many of the Linda Ronstadt songs I knew and liked, when I sat down and watched this documentary. They had seeped into my consciousness when I wasn’t paying attention. My first wife had the Stone Poneys album, before Ronstadt was known as a solo. The first Ronstadt I bought was her collection of standards, with the arrangements of Nelson Riddle. But the music of hers that I most love, and that I think demonstrates her talents the best, is the Mexican music, which I’ve played to death. There are so many beautiful songs that I can’t go into detail. But if you want to be stunned by the range of her voice, listen to “El Crucifio de Piedra.”
Her life—as told in Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice—was steeped in music. Her father’s family was originally German but had settled in Mexico, eventually migrated to Arizona, where they had a business. Linda said somewhere that her father had the most beautiful voice in the family, which I find hard to believe. Her mother loved Gilbert and Sullivan, also the standard vocalists of her day, like Sinatra, and apparently the whole family sang constantly. The first group Linda formed was with her brother and sister, but soon her sister was having babies, and her brother went into a less precarious line of work. Linda headed to LA to become a singer.
This movie makes it sound as if it was smooth sailing the whole way, local notoriety followed by a solo act and international stardom (she does speak of a period where she had a beachfront house in Malibu that rented for $80.00, and three people were splitting it). It’s hard to believe it was all so easy, but as soon as this waiflike woman opened her mouth, a hell of a voice emerged. This documentary is aptly named. She went through various incarnations and different sidemen, but she was the major attraction. You were coming to see Linda Ronstadt.
I hadn’t thought about what that involved, a female more or less occupying the place of Mick Jagger when everybody around her was male. There is a short piece of this movie—I wish they had expanded it, if there was more—where she is walking on the beach talking to an interviewer who is unnamed and out of the picture, about the fact that the world of rock and roll is overwhelmingly male, that it has a certain anti-female bias, that the biggest stars get isolated and surrounded by flunkies, the women they see are often groupies they just makes use of. That was the world Ronstadt inhabited. Her sidemen weren’t necessarily any better. The movie speaks of the difficulties of the road, and coming down from performances in the wee hours of the morning, which many musicians do by using drugs. Linda’s problem was apparently diet pills, which kept her thin and energized, but also strung her out. The movie doesn’t dwell on that.
It is bizarre to hear that, of all things, Ronstadt wasn’t sure of her voice. She had strong opinions about what she wanted to do and how she wanted to do it, but was never sure of her abilities. Eventually—she had a run of five straight platinum albums—she had no worlds left to conquer. To her credit, she didn’t keep going out and singing “You’re No Good” again and again (though she did plenty of that, mentions how wearing it was), but went back to her family influences and sang what she wanted. She appeared in a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta in New York; there’s footage of it! She did several albums of standards, some of the greatest recordings of those songs. Finally she sang the beautiful Mexican songs that were the bedrock of her youth (she says somewhere that as a girl she thought people spoke in English and sang in Spanish). In some of those recordings her brother sings the harmony. Those albums are magnificent.
The good news about this documentary is that, in addition to all the talking heads, which are like a Who’s Who of popular music, the movie focuses on performance footage, which is what I was hoping for. The other fascinating bit of talking Ronstadt did was when she defended the fact that she performed in South Africa. She said that if she avoided places that were politically compromised, she couldn’t have sung anywhere. “Boston is one of the most racist places in the world,” was one comment in her diatribe. She was brainy and informed and articulate. I would like to have heard more.
Sadly, like her mother, she has come down with Parkinson’s in what people used to call old age, but now doesn’t seem old to me; she is 73, and was diagnosed about ten years ago. She apparently realized she was ill because her voice could no longer do what it once had, and she doesn’t sing at all anymore, though she harmonizes with some family members at the very end of the film, and sounds okay (we realize that what most of us think of as singing has nothing to do with what Ronstadt did in her prime). Fortunately we have all her recorded music, and this marvelous documentary. It can rightfully be accused of skimming over controversy. But when the woman has a voice this great, we’d rather hear the music.
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Post by eddiejinnj on Dec 29, 2019 10:19:12 GMT -5
Yes, THE standard to show Ronstadt's range was mentioned, "El Crucifio de Piedra". I was like stunned also when I first heard it. UNBELIEVABLE. eddiejinnj
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Post by the Scribe on Dec 30, 2019 6:31:08 GMT -5
Film explores Ronstadt’s life, wide-ranging music careerENTERTAINMENT www.ozarksfirst.com/entertainment-news/film-explores-ronstadts-life-wide-ranging-music-career/ by: DAVID BAUDER, Associated Press Posted: Dec 27, 2019 / 09:24 AM CST / Updated: Dec 27, 2019 / 09:47 AM CST
2019 Kennedy Center Honoree singer Linda Ronstadt arrives at the State Department for the Kennedy Center Honors State Department Dinner on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
NEW YORK (AP) — Between the Kennedy Center Honors and a CNN documentary about her life debuting on television New Year’s Day, Linda Ronstadt is taking a career victory lap.
Ronstadt drew attention this month for a comment at a dinner for Kennedy honorees hosted by the State Department and Secretary Mike Pompeo. Ronstadt said she hadn’t planned to mention the Trump administration but did so to show support for fellow honoree Sally Field. The actress had remarked about living in an era where the idea of truth was being challenged, Ronstadt said.
“Half the room applauded and the other half sat in silence,” Ronstadt recalled. “I just wanted to say that I was in solidarity with her. I didn’t want her to stand up there by herself.”
During his remarks, Pompeo referenced a Ronstadt hit, “When Will I Be Loved,” saying he wondered when he’d be loved. When it was Ronstadt’s turn to speak, the 73-year-old retired singer tartly answered the question and said it would be “when he stops enabling Donald Trump.”
When will Ronstadt be loved? Now seems to be the time, with the well-received documentary, “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice.” Viewers will see that Ronstadt’s career had two distinct stages.
There was the rock star, sex symbol days with hits like “You’re No Good,” “Heat Wave” and “Blue Bayou.” Part two began with her 1980 New York stage role in “The Pirates of Penzance,” ushering in adventurous projects featuring jazz standards, traditional Mexican recordings and trio discs with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton. Despite the fear of record company executives, many of the projects did quite well.
She now lives a quiet life in the San Francisco area, her singing voice stilled by Parkinson’s Disease. Her last album, a collaboration with Cajun singer Ann Savoy that Ronstadt considers one of her best, was released in 2006. She performed her last concert in 2009.
“I didn’t do the work for prizes. I never took that into consideration,” she said. The recent recognition is “lovely, you know. I’m glad they like it. I like some of it and don’t like most of it. The good thing is it got better. My early work makes me cringe. Later on it got better.”
She also had an admirer in Amy Entelis, an executive at CNN.
“She was iconic in my life,” said Entelis, who is in charge of CNN Films, and therefore, in position to green light the Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman documentary. It’s not charity work; biographies have done well for CNN’s film division, most notably “RBG” about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and others are in the works on Anthony Bourdain and Julia Child.
Ronstadt hasn’t been interested in cooperating with documentaries in the past but admired a film that Epstein had made about pioneering gay politician Harvey Milk.
Her participation was minimal, aside from narrating stories about her early life, including her Mexican heritage and family’s musical background, and a key final scene. Plenty of compatriots in the 1970s Los Angeles music scene were happy to talk, most notably J.D. Souther and Harris.
Ronstadt has deep roots in that scene; an early backing band eventually morphed into the Eagles. She paid Don Henley $250 a week to play the drums.
One of the things Entelis appreciates about the film is that the music is given a chance to breathe, that it’s not presented as an all-too-brief afterthought.
Filmmakers resisted the obvious temptation to make a tear-jerker, to completely frame it around the cruelty of a peerless singer no longer able to sing.
“My book doesn’t even mention that I have Parkinson’s, so they didn’t dwell on it,” Ronstadt said, referring to her 2013 autobiography. “I don’t think it would be very interesting. A lot of people get sick.”
Still, with the film nearly done, Entelis said it was clear there was something missing. That’s what led to the final scene, which shows Ronstadt with her cousin and nephew in Mexico as they sing the song “A La Orilla de un Palmar.”
Harris says in the film that her old trio partner doesn’t miss making records, but does miss singing. The ache in Ronstadt’s eyes in that scene is where you can see what Harris means. Ronstadt mouths the words, but you can’t really tell what comes out.
Entelis hopes for a large audience on New Year’s Day, a strategically selected premiere date. On a day when people are relaxed and usually seeking an escape from news, entertainment-oriented films do well for CNN.
CNN released the film in theaters earlier this year, and it earned some $4.2 million, a strong showing for a documentary. “It’s safe to say that surprised us,” Entelis said. “It’s not that we didn’t love the film and thought it would be good for CNN, but we did not expect it to take off theatrically in that way.”
It surprised Ronstadt, too.
“When they approached me, I thought it would be a documentary film that would have one night on PBS and that would be it,” she said in an interview.
“I’m glad people like it,” Ronstadt said. “Sometimes they like things that aren’t very good and I think they only like it because they don’t have good taste. I think I know what I did. I’m happy with the good things I did and I wish the other parts were better, but I did my best.”
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Post by the Scribe on Dec 30, 2019 14:34:00 GMT -5
Linda Ronstadt Helps CNN Carry a Different Kind of Tune Brian Steinberg 4 hrs ago www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/linda-ronstadt-helps-cnn-carry-a-different-kind-of-tune/ar-BBYt5N6?li=AA2qN5v
Fans of Linda Ronstadt have swooned over her voice, a powerful instrument that can blast the dust off an Everly Brothers classic and breathe new life into jazz and mariachi standards. Yet what comes through most strongly in a recent documentary about the singer is the way she used her vocal abilities to call attention to the work of others.
Linda Ronstadt looking at the camera: Director: Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman The doc drew on wide-ranging interviews to paint an adoring picture of the great folk-rock singer, recently forced to retire from performing due to Parkinson’s disease. The film managed to draw a crowd, accruing just shy of $4 million at the box office.© Henry Diltz
Director: Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman
The doc drew on wide-ranging interviews to paint an adoring picture of the great folk-rock singer, recently forced to retire from performing due to Parkinson’s disease. The film managed to draw a crowd, accruing just shy of $4 million at the box office.
“I can always do a harmony part,” Ronstadt says in a recent interview.
The film, “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice,” airs on CNN at 9 p.m. on New Year’s Day after a recent theater run, and tells the story via a time-capsule of clips, video moments and Ronstadt’s own words of how the singer captured public fascination with her carefully chosen covers of tunes by Roy Orbison, Clint Ballard Jr. and Warren Zevon, among others. But it also depicts her knack for helping those whose efforts she believes demands a wider profile. Emmylou Harris confesses that it was Ronstadt who helped her through a difficult time after the death of her musical partner, Gram Parsons. It was Ronstadt who led the members of the Eagles to find each other, putting Don Henley and Glenn Frey in her backing band. And it’s Ronstadt who lends her voice to such landmark songs as Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” and Little Feat’s “All That You Dream.” She would go on to put a new spotlight on various musical genres that might otherwise have gone unheard by some of her fans.
She’s done so much of this work that it can get hard to keep track of it all. When asked about the many songs for which she has provided background vocals, Ronstadt takes pains to point out her contributions to Young’s 1977 album, “American Stars n’ Bars,” but appears momentarily stumped by this reporter’s mention of her work on The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1979 cover of Rodney Crowell’s “Voila! An American Dream.” The single went to number 13 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart that year. “I’ll have to dig it up,” she says.
CNN helped unearth the documentary. Executives came up with the idea to try to tell Ronstadt’s story at a brainstorming session that took place approximately two years ago, recalls Amy Entelis, CNN’s executive vice president for talent and content development, in an interview. “We are always looking for people who are known, but maybe their story is less known,” she says, noting that Jeff Zucker, president of CNN and chairman of WarnerMedia News and Sports, initially suggested Ronstadt as a potential subject.
Getting her cooperation was not a fait accompli. “It’s not that easy to secure everyone’s interest and collaboration,” says Entelis. CNN assigned the effort to James Keach, who had worked with the network previously on a documentary about singer-songwriter Glen Campbell. Ronstadt had already been approached by two producers, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. And while the pair had her interest, they lacked funding, Entelis says – and there had been no assignment of TV rights for the final product. “The timing really worked out for this to come together, which doesn’t often happen,” she says.
For her part, Ronstadt had cast a wary eye on the idea of a documentary of her life. “There were several offers out there, and I said ‘No,’” she recalls. But Epstein and Friedman had worked on a documentary on the life of Harvey Milk that she was familiar with from PBS, and she says she thought, “If I have to make this one, it’s not so bad. Maybe I have a chance to stop the other ones.” She reached an understanding with the producers, she says: the documentary would have to be limited to the events she described in her 2013 memoir, “Simple Dreams.” After all, she says, “if it was based on the book, I think it would be fine, because it would be mostly true.” Booklist had described her memoir as a sort of safe place: “There are no tales of parental cruelty or substance abuse (someone in the CNN film alludes to potential use by Ronstadt of diet pills).
“The Sound of My Voice” is CNN’s second documentary about a musician who continues to tread an interesting path. Ronstadt no longer sings in public, citing the effects of progressive supranuclear palsy, which was initially diagnosed Parkinson’s disease. The documentary tackles her coping with it head on. One of its final scenes shows Ronstadt in the present day singing with members of her family – a sight viewers may never witness again. There is also an emotional interview with Emmylou Harris, who breaks down on camera while discussing the topic.
“She is my sister,” says Ronstadt of Harris, with whom she sang on the critically acclaimed “Trio” albums as well as another collection, “Western Wall.” Singing together “is very, very intimate, and you become very close.”
In 2015, CNN aired the documentary “Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me,” a detailed look at the country singer of the title as he toured while grappling with effects from Alzheimer’s disease. It also provoked an emotional response from people who watched it. CNN hadn’t commissioned that effort, but was able to secure TV rights – and, says Entelis, its executives were surprised by the result. “The audience reaction to that film on CNN was enormous,” she says. “I think it told us that so many people are dealing with Alzheimer’s in their family and to sort of see that disease through the eyes of someone they’ve admired and are still connected to was, ultimately, a very, very moving story. It told us a lot of things about what our audience is interested in.”
Viewers will no doubt also want to examine dozens of clips of past Ronstadt performances, and interviews with Dolly Parton, Bonnie Raitt and Don Henley, among others – including guitarist Bobby Kimmel, who played guitar in the Stone Poneys, the band that gave rise to Ronstadt’s solo career.
They won’t be surprised by Ronstadt’s candor when it comes to politics. This was someone, after all ,who dated politician Jerry Brown, a one-time presidential candidate who become governor of California. The documentary features a clip of Ronstadt speaking bluntly about U.S. policies while appearing on a talk show.
She is still not shy. While attending a ceremony held in advance of her recent Kennedy Center Honor, Ronstadt rebuked U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after he quoted her Everly Brothers cover: “As I travel the world, I wonder: When will I be loved?” he said to her in remarks during the ceremony. Her rejoinder: “I’d like to say to Mr. Pompeo, who wonders when he’ll be loved, it’s when he stops enabling Donald Trump.”
Ronstadt says she had no plans to get into a political discussion, but her decision may have been sparked by Sally Field, who was also honored by the Kennedy Center, and who told the assemblage at the small ceremony that she was mindful of living in an era “where the truth is under attack,” Ronstadt says. “It just came of my mouth,” Ronstadt says of her remarks. “I felt like I had to stick up for Sally Field.”
In any case, says Ronstadt, “he set himself up for that” by quoting the song. “Nobody would walk past that.”
CNN’s documentary may be one of the last documents of Ronstadt’s career. She released a live album from a 1980 concert in February of this year, but believes she doesn’t have much more in her archives. “I think they’ve scraped the bottom of the barrel, pretty much,” she says. “If I didn’t put it out, there are pretty good reasons for it.”
Ronstadt still has an ear out for sounds she thinks others should hear. “I really love Sia,” she says. ”Her singing style – she’s really an original.” As for songwriters, she thinks today’s crop has to work hard to surpass people like Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell or Bob Dylan. One thing that is made clear by both the singer and the film about her: You don’t need to use your voice to hone in on a good tune.
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Post by the Scribe on Jan 1, 2020 0:57:57 GMT -5
Film Here’s Where You Can Watch the Linda Ronstadt Documentary on Your TV Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival remezcla.com/film/linda-ronstadt-the-sound-of-my-voice-cnn-streaming/ By Kristen Lopez | 4 days ago
As you nurse whatever feelings you’ve carried over from 2019, at least you’ll have good entertainment to consume. On New Year’s Day at 9 p.m. ET and PT, CNN will air Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice documentary, which is perfect for any of you who missed it while in theaters. The doc follows the 10-time Grammy Award-winning singer, who narrates her own story of being a Mexican American in the music industry.
The doc will play again on CNN on Saturday, January 4, and Sunday, January 5 at the same time. It will also be available to stream via the CNNgo app cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2019/12/27/linda-ronstadt-the-sound-of-my-voice-premieres-on-cnn-on-new-years-day/ . The Sound of My Voice debuted in theaters in September, grossing more than $4 million at the box office www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2248705537/ .
Ronstadt has been nominated for a whopping 26 Grammy Awards throughout her career, and she was the first female artist to top the Pop, Country, and R&B charts at the same time. Some of her hits include the likes of “You’re No Good,” “Blue Bayou,” and “When Will I Be Loved.”
The doc gives you a look into her own photos, old footage from her performances and also her life growing up in Tucson. Ronstadt also gives explanations about her songs. If that’s not enough to entice you to check it out, read our review here remezcla.com/features/film/documentary-linda-ronstadt-sound-my-voice-review/ .
Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice airs on CNN January 1 at 9 p.m. PT and ET.
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Post by the Scribe on Jan 1, 2020 1:45:51 GMT -5
Linda Ronstadt documentary, 'The Sound of My Voice,' will most likely bring you to tearsUSA TODAY Entertainment Ed Masley, Arizona Republic USA TODAY EntertainmentDecember 31, 2019 www.yahoo.com/entertainment/linda-ronstadt-documentary-sound-voice-023310571.html
"Right now, I'd like you to meet a young lady – a very lovely young lady – that I really think has what it takes to be around for a long, long time to come."
And with that rumbling introduction, Johnny Cash becomes the first in a seemingly endless stream of legendary voices paying tribute to the star of "Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice," a documentary by Oscar-winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman.
In her first of several appearances, Dolly Parton enthuses, "Linda could literally sing anything."
This is followed by Bonnie Raitt (who later calls her "the Beyoncé of her day"), saying, "I don't think anybody has tried more different styles and nailed it than Linda has."
These are points made abundantly clear as the film makes its way from that powerful early performance of "You're No Good" through a grittier, more self-assured performance of that same song through "The Pirates of Penzance" to the Great American Songbook and her loving tribute to the traditional Mexican folk songs she learned from her father growing up in Tucson.
It falls to Ronstadt, then, to offset her own ticker-tape parade with an attempt to put her singing in perspective.
"There are a lot of really good singers out in the world," she says. "A lot of better singers than I am. What I did that was different than a lot of other singers, I did a whole lot of different kinds of material. People would think that I was trying to reinvent myself. But I never invented myself to start with."
ON AMAZON PRIME: Phoenix-music legend Brian Smith's life inspires film series www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2019/09/06/amazon-prime-series-inspired-by-rocky-life-phoenix-musician-brian-jabas-smith/2234642001/
Is she selling herself short? Of course she is. But Ronstadt's modesty and self-awareness have been hallmarks of her interviews for years. And here, her words provide a necessary counterweight to the effusive praise we hear from every other talking head.
If what you want is a bloodletting portrait of a complicated artist, "David Crosby: Remember My Name" is maybe more your speed. www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2019/07/31/david-crosby-remember-my-name-documentary-review-man-trapped-kind-hell/1873420001/
"Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice" is more a celebration of a life in music.
And as celebrations go, it would be pretty hard to beat – thanks to a life's supply of great performance footage.
Many try but no one makes a stronger case for Ronstadt's prowess as a vocalist than the singer herself. And it's not anything she says. It's how she sings in those performance clips, charting her growth as a force of nature from an unassuming early take of "Different Drum" before producer Nick Venet reinvented the song as a chamber-pop masterpiece to a full-bodied vocal on stage at the helm of a mariachi troupe.
There are far too many highlights here to list them all but an understated "Long Long Time" on "The Dick Cavett Show" and "Blue Bayou" are certainly among them, as is "Rescue Me," a live performance featuring two future Eagles in her backing band, Don Henley and Glenn Frey.
Her independent spirit also shines as Ronstadt offers hot takes on her own successes. That reinvented "Different Drum" with all the orchestration? "I didn't want to put it on the record," she says, "because that isn't the way I had originally envisioned it." Then, she giggles, and says, "It was a good thing they didn't listen to me."
Her initial reaction to Peter Asher's guitar-driven production on her first chart-topping single, "You're No Good?" "Oh, I don't like it. It sounds like the Beatles."
The filmmakers have done their best to touch on nearly every highlight of her life in music while tracing her musical roots to her childhood. As Ronstadt recalls, as a child, she would listen to opera on Saturday mornings at her grandparents' house and then come home to find her father playing Mexican songs on the piano and her mom playing Gilbert and Sullivan pieces.
Toss in a sister who loved Hank Williams, and you've got the DNA for much of her career.
The film builds, as it must, to a bittersweet ending.
As Ronstadt recalls in the film, "As time went on, there was something really wrong with my voice. I just lost a lot of different colors in my voice."
Unable to perform to her own standards, the singer gave her last performance, a Mexican show, in 2009, and retired two years later, finally learning the cause behind the loss of her ability to sing in late 2012 when she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
"Singing is really complex," she says. "And I was made most aware of it by having it vanish. I can still sing in my mind but I can't do it physically."
After hearing from JD Souther, Peter Asher and Emmylou Harris on what that loss has meant to Ronstadt, we're left with a heartbreaking scene of the singer surrounded by family, quietly singing a Mexican ballad with nephew Peter Ronstadt and cousin Bobby Ronstadt.
To fans who never thought they'd hear her sing again, it's a deeply emotional moment. And it doesn't sound a thing like Linda Ronstadt. But it's beautiful to witness all the same.
"This isn't really singing," Ronstadt says. "Believe me. It's a few notes sketched in. But it's not really singing."
Asked if she's enjoying it, she smiles and says, "Well, I would enjoy it much more if I could sing. But I can't let them sing this without me. It's a family thing."
She laughs. Then they go back to singing their sad song about having no mother or father. When it's over, Ronstadt laughs and asks, "Do we get to eat?"
As perfect as that ending would have been, they cut from there to Ronstadt's well-deserved induction in 2013 to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where a stage full of women, including Harris, Raitt and fellow Arizona native Stevie Nicks, take turns standing in for that beautiful voice that's been silenced on one of Ronstadt's biggest rock hits, "When Will I Be Loved."
'Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice,' 3.5 stars Director: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman.
Cast: Linda Ronstadt, JD Souther, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris.
Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language and drug material.
Note: At Harkins Camelview at Fashion Square.
Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★
Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice' will most likely bring you to tears www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2019/12/31/linda-ronstadt-sound-my-voice-bittersweet-fan-letter/2788619001/
www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/movies/2019/09/11/photos-linda-ronstadt-sound-my-voice/2272723001/
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Post by erik on Jan 1, 2020 9:51:50 GMT -5
I have to say for the record that this movie was tied with another documentary film, namely APOLLO 11, for my favorite movie of 2019; and now that I have it on DVD, I will always cherish it.
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Post by the Scribe on Jan 1, 2020 18:16:09 GMT -5
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Post by the Scribe on Jan 1, 2020 21:17:04 GMT -5
If anyone knows the proper link to stream this on CNN please post if you can. Thanks!!
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Post by the Scribe on Jan 1, 2020 21:23:42 GMT -5
Does anyone know HOW the makers of this documentary settled on the use of the song for it title? I hadn't read that in any of the articles.
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Post by rick on Jan 1, 2020 23:03:40 GMT -5
Even though I now own the documentary on Blu-Ray, I just finished watching its first airing on CNN. They cut it right after the RRHOF performance by Emmy, Bonnie, Stevie, Sheryl and Carrie. “Still Within the Sound of My Voice” was cut.
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Post by RobGNYC on Jan 1, 2020 23:14:15 GMT -5
Does anyone know HOW the makers of this documentary settled on the use of the song for it title? I hadn't read that in any of the articles. Not specifically but I thought that it was a perfect choice--"if you're still within the sound of my voice...over some radio...watching this video." When the "Cry Like a Rainstorm" album came out in 1989, after she'd been away from pop music for a few years, I took it as an "I'm back--are you still out there?" message to her fans--and the song resonates even more now that she's no longer singing. Also it's a Jimmy Webb song and Linda holds him in highest esteem. That Glen Campbell recorded it first and died while the film was in planning/production may have helped seal it.
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Post by musedeva on Jan 1, 2020 23:49:45 GMT -5
Oh! My ! Goddess!!
well......we ALL were crying watching that ......Touche Linda Touche....I'm just loving the RELEVANCE of all the topics ADDRESSED and exampled as VIABLE today; J A N U A R Y 2020
Goddess Bless Linda
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Post by the Scribe on Jan 2, 2020 0:01:44 GMT -5
Does anyone know HOW the makers of this documentary settled on the use of the song for it title? I hadn't read that in any of the articles. Not specifically but I thought that it was a perfect choice--"if you're still within the sound of my voice...over some radio...watching this video." When the "Cry Like a Rainstorm" album came out in 1989, after she'd been away from pop music for a few years, I took it as an "I'm back--are you still out there?" message to her fans--and the song resonates even more now that she's no longer singing. Also it's a Jimmy Webb song and Linda holds him in highest esteem. That Glen Campbell recorded it first and died while the film was in planning/production may have helped seal it. Yes, I was thinking all of those same things. It is a haunting piece of material to my mind. A brilliant choice.
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Post by PoP80 on Jan 2, 2020 8:29:33 GMT -5
I'm very glad that I saw the film first in a movie theater because there were some issues with the sound at times and too many commercial interruptions on CNN. In addition, the song "The Sound of My Voice" was played during the closing credits which added a great deal to the emotional impact and tied in with the title of the film.
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Post by germancanadian on Jan 2, 2020 10:16:09 GMT -5
I already saw the film on Google Play last month but I'm glad I saw it again on CNN. I envy people who got to see it in theaters even more now. Watching it on a bigger screen with better sound made it so much better, I actually shivered when she sang "Long Long Time" and "Blue Bayou." Emmylou's hair looks great. Keep an eye on the album sales charts this week, her sales are already surging.
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Post by MokyWI on Jan 2, 2020 10:56:48 GMT -5
Western Wall is #1 in Traditional Pop, Traditional Folk, and Traditional Vocal Pop on Amazon! She has several other titles at #1 on Amazon.
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Post by eddiejinnj on Jan 2, 2020 11:13:28 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2020 11:34:35 GMT -5
Well, I watched "The Sound of My Voice " last night on CNN. I thought the documentary, on the whole, was sort of amateurish. It was largely just patched-together video footage, with predictable commentary in-between the footage. I would have liked to have seen more about Linda's childhood. I did, however, like the ending, when Linda was singing (trying to, anyway) with her cousin and nephew circa 2019. That was unexpected and memorable. (Also, Emmylou Harris seems very nice and "normal" (as opposed to many people in the music business). Ditto John Boylan, he also seems very nice and likeable).
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Post by Partridge on Jan 2, 2020 11:59:13 GMT -5
I can see that viewpoint, jeff3. Usually I do not like these talking head documentaries, but this one was better done that most, in my inestimable opinion. The commentary footage I can agree. I would never have compared Linda to Beyoncé. The Emmylou commentary was most interesting and on target. But with a Linda documentary, there is not much you can do except patch together old footage. I would have liked to have seen Jimmy Webb and a performance of one of his songs represented. And of course a true documentary would have had the rise and fall of a career.. this ended with Linda still on top with a multiplatinum album.
But still, I enjoyed the documentary. I did not watch it on CNN as I figured they might delete parts and of course the commercials.
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Post by eddiejinnj on Jan 2, 2020 12:53:26 GMT -5
I liked the Beyoncé comparison. Imagine if Bonnie had said TS. I think that Erik's head would have blown off his shoulders or a little "Scanners" image in mind. U know I'm joking. Considering how well it did at the box office, there could have been more included after 1990 to make it 2 hours but hindsight is 20/20. At the end of the movie I was like blubbering. I made it until the end. A well-done movie. eddiejinnj
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Post by eddiejinnj on Jan 2, 2020 12:59:52 GMT -5
Thanks Mike, for the chart updates. I'll have to look around on Amazon. Happy New Year to you and all!!! I had a bad cold NY and still do but haven't had one in 16 yrs so it happens. eddiejinnj
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