Grrrrl Power!

by pessimist

You can't keep a good woman down - and we have two examples to prove it!

First, Cynthia McKinney Gets A Big Win. Maybe with Ms. McKinney back in the House (she's expected to win the general election), things won't be so complacent there!

And, Linda Ronstadt Bounces Back

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.

Ronstadt: I'll continue praising Moore

Ronstadt, 58, told the Times her remarks were "modest," adding: "They didn't throw me out."

"I didn't even know there was trouble," she said. "Those places operate like little city-states. They are all-powerful. And I had already said I never want to come back."

Reports of casino incident not accurate, Ronstadt says

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.

"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."

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.

Open Letter to Bill Timmins, President Aladdin Casino and Hotel

"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."

Desperadoes

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." 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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