Linda Ronstadt, Michael Moore, and Las Vegas

I wonder what the insulting statements were?

Kind of funny, though. You have riots elsewhere in the world and people die. In the US the news reports say "cocktails were thrown and posters were torn down" !!!

When the middle class begins throwing their cocktails the world should quake. Next, they'll be whacking people in effigy with their Italian shoes.

I wonder what the insulting statements were?

I'm trying to find out. My best source would have been a Linda Ronstadt message board, but it appears the administrator deleted the relevant messages. Grrr. I'm trying to find a non-journalist who was actually there.

Original reports indicated the comments were made at the concert, but the only review I could find only referred to insults she had made in an interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal on Friday. A lot of people canceled their tickets after that interview, in which she called Vegas "a strange, weird place" and said "Each time, I couldn't wait to get out." That article concluded:

Anyone who disagrees with that is welcome to get in line, behind whoever she manages to rile at the Aladdin this time. "I keep hoping that if I'm annoying enough to them, they won't hire me back," she says with a laugh.

So it appears she went in there with a chip on her shoulder.

Squyres, the Aladdin P.R. director, said half the audience left. That would be at least 2000 people. Wow.

Linda Ronstadt is undeterred, though. According to this account from a Linda Ronstadt message board, a similar uprising occurred the next night in San Diego.

Linda was great tonight!!! However when she dedicated Desperado to Michael Moore part of the audience went nuts! Trash talked, booed, and stormed out. What's up with that?? Desperado is one of my favorites and unfortunately it was difficult to hear her over the bull****. The postings about the Vegas show indicate the MM dedication drew a similar response there. Desperado was her final song tonight before she left the stage with not so much as a thank you or good night. No bows from Linda or the orchestra and no encores. Seemed like an abrupt ending. We overheard a couple of ushers saying she was scheduled to perform 2 more songs. Anyone know if that's true?

She has a long encore she's been forced to cut several times because of the negative reaction to her support of Moore.

Kind of funny, though. You have riots elsewhere in the world and people die. In the US the news reports say "cocktails were thrown and posters were torn down" !!! When the middle class begins throwing their cocktails the world should quake. Next, they'll be whacking people in effigy with their Italian shoes.

Yeah, we're wild, aren't we? Fill people up with Vegas cocktails and look at the madness that ensues! We just don't know how to throw a riot around here.

for some reason i seem to remember her having some sort of substance problem in the past. the impression i took away after hearing a report by abc's local affiliate's 'entertainment guru' was she was intoxicated.  i guess having people toss cocktails at you is one way of gettin free drinks. 

Really strange, sounds like she wanted that reaction. Maybe she thought she'd make a few magazine covers like the Dixie Chicks? Has been a while since had any attention.

I guess Linda didn't hear that we can't express our feeling about our government anymore . The dixie chicks learned their lesson.If you are not for this President keep it to yourself or pay the price.

I guess Linda didn't hear that we can't express our feeling about our government anymore . The dixie chicks learned their lesson.If you are not for this President keep it to yourself or pay the price.

I guess Linda didn't hear that we can't express our feeling about our government anymore . The dixie chicks learned their lesson.If you are not for this President keep it to yourself or pay the price.

Yes, you pay the price of your customers expressing their rights to not give you money.

I'm sure of Marilyn Manson were to criticize the President, his fans wouldn't be up in arms about it. It's more about not alienating your fans.

hard to believe there are still people around who object to the right of having an opinion on anyone disagreeing with their own...

You don't have to agree with them; in fact they don't have to agree with you either. That's why ice cream comes in 237 flavors, and most of them are great , if you like flavors in your life. If you like plain vanilla all the time , that's OK too, for you. Personally, I like Mocha Moore and Loganberry Limbaugh both - They compliment each other in the flavor tasting of real life...

Learn to enjoy it all people - you'll live longer.

I wish they'd just shut up and sing. They're singers. They abuse their celebrity when they start making audiences listen to their ignorant political opinions.

I support their right to give their opinion though. And I support the right of consumers to choose not to pay to listen to it.

I wish they'd just shut up and sing. They're singers. They abuse their celebrity when they start making audiences listen to their ignorant political opinions.I support their right to give their opinion though. And I support the right of consumers to choose not to pay to listen to it.

Draginol.....I think you just hit the nail square on the head! If I pay to see a singer and then have to listen to a political rant (and one in support of a scumbag like Moore no less) I might walk out rather unhappy. If Im the owner of the establishment hosting an event where 25% of the people walk out........I might be inclined to hand the "talent" their walking papers. Regardless of political affiliation, it makes good business sense.

I find it interesting that the left has no problems with the NAACP censoring Bill Cosby's free speech and yet have a big problem with this......very telling indeed.

I think she made statements at the end of her concert. She has every right to dedicate one of her songs. There are many celebrities that feel they have a responsibilty and should use their voice for good while they are on the stage.

I think she made statements at the end of her concert. She has every right to dedicate one of her songs. There are many celebrities that feel they have a responsibilty and should use their voice for good while they are on the stage.

WiseFawn
Do you feel the same way about the NAACP telling Bill Cosby to stick to comedy in his speech? Of course the NAACP knew his opinions didn't jive with theirs so they censored him. Oh, and Mr. Cosby was gracious enough to adhere to their wishes.

I have not read or heard enough about it to make any kind of statement. But it isn't quite the same, is it? Other than feeling the responsibility. I've recently been to the NAACP site, I'll check back to see if it mentions Bill Cosby.

hmm, in glancing over their home page, I see concern about WIC, calling everyone to vote, and to vote Bush out, by the way, awards, etc. Maybe you can point me to something?

There was more to this than the dedication. She made other statements back at the crowd after they booed, and she had also insulted Las Vegas and the hotel itself.

This isn't censorship, this is cancelling a nutty artist that was more trouble than she was worth. Why should they put up with her infuriating crowds?

There are many celebrities that feel they have a responsibilty and should use their voice for good while they are on the stage.

Then they should have to advertise that it was Linda Ronstadt's Greatest Hits and political commentary because people weren't paying big bucks to hear anything but the music.  Like I said on another thread, you can love someone's music and not embrace their political views.  You shouldn't have to have entertainers spewing their political agenda every time you go to a concert, play, etc.  If they are so famous and well loved, they should be able to have a "political talk" with their fans as a separate billing.  I feel entertainers need to keep their art and their politics separate unless properly advertised as both.

We give these people celebrity status. Hang on their every word, peek into their bedroom windows and pay huge amounts of money to see their work. But the minute one says something part of the world doesn't want to hear, all hell breaks loose. Honestly, if she had dedicated a song to Bush and made a statement about his re-election, would you be this bothered? Are any of you so bothered by this singer, bothered by whatever was said by Bill Cosby?

I'm sure her fans wouldn't be bothered by Linda dedicating a song to Bush, but I'm sure that people would be quite offended if Alicia Keys dedicated a song to President Bush at an NAACP Image Awards convention and continued with voicing the problems she had with the NAACP.
As for Bill Cosby, I'm not bothered by what he said, because where he said it was more appropriate. If Linda dedicated songs to Michael Moore at a political convention (primarily liberal), that would be much different.

Sheesh Wisefawn, are left wingers ever not given a pass by you?

I suspect if every copy of Object Desktop came with a little pop-up video of me, that they had to watch, telling the world how cowardly liberals are or that they should vote for Bush I suspect that our sales would decline.

Celebrities deliver a product/service in the form of singing or acting. That is what we pay for. They should stick to that.  If they want to do more, that's fine but then don't bitch if we choose to not to purchase their product/service after that.

"Political issues aside, does anyone else realize that "Desperado" is a love song?

Well, the penis is a "love organ", Desperado is a "love song", and Michael Moore is most certainly a penis... so I guess it all makes sense.

Well, the penis is a "love organ",

I thought feminists considered it a "violence organ".

I think some guys think of it as a "violence organ" as well. I mean, there's the beating, and the choking, and the...
Well, that's a derailment.

Um. Okay. I used to like REM a lot, but first I got tired of Michael Stipes's political activism (just in general. I didn't pay much attention to what he said), and then I didn't really like the music any more. So. That's. Y'know. Kinda like the same thing. Right?

Re: REM, "Green" was the last good album, imho.

(Back to the regularly scheduled blog...sorry...)

I think some guys think of it as a "violence organ" as well

I think of it as my "Machine Gun of Love".