Posted on 04/24/2003 8:41:13 PM PDT by luv2ndamend
They have been called Saddam's Angels and the Dixie Sluts, traitors and big mouths, all because they made a disparaging remark about President Bush at a concert in London last month. Radio stations stopped playing their new CD and invited listeners to dump their old albums in rubbish bins and there have been death threats and calls to boycott their upcoming US tour.
Now the Texas-based Dixie Chicks are fighting back. They have posed for the cover of next week's Entertainment Weekly cheerfully wearing nothing but the epithets they have attracted and vowing to continue to speak their minds.
It was Guardian critic Betty Clarke who reported that Dixie Chicks singer, Natalie Maines, had said on stage at the Shepherd's Bush Empire: "We're ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas." As Entertainment Weekly says: "If it hadn't been for one London critic - from the left-leaning newspaper the Guardian - approvingly quoting Maines's remark, the group might still have the No 1 country single and a top 10 pop hit instead of being all but banished from the nation's airwaves."
When country websites and radio stations picked up the Guardian review, the campaign began against the band, who have helped to revive the popularity of country music over the last five years, selling 25 million CDs.
They disappeared from playlists and became the object of abuse from talk show hosts and newspaper columnists. Maines apologised, say ing: "Whoever holds that office [the presidency] should be treated with the utmost respect." That has not been enough for some.
Now Maines needs 24-hour security outside her home. The other two members of the band have also felt the heat: trash has been dumped outside the home of Emily Robison and the tour driver of Martie Maguire has resigned. The rightwing country singer, Toby Keith, is using a backdrop of Maines and Saddam Hussein.
Maines said that "we have nothing but support for the troops". She had expressed her feelings because "I think of those little kids over there, just laying in their beds listening [to the planes] ... I don't hate people who are for the war. It seems unfathomable that someone would not want to drive us because of our political views. But we're learning more and more that it's not that unfathomable to a large percentage of the population."
Emily Robison said: "Everybody talks about how this war was over quickly and not that many people died. Tell that to the parents of people coming home in body bags." All the band supported Maines: "Natalie's comment came from frustration that we all shared - we were apparently days away from war and still left with a lot of questions."
Maines said that the US ambassador had come backstage after their concert in London, "so he must not have been offended".
When their US tour starts next month, they are bracing for more protests. But there are signs of a backlash against the backlash with sales of their CD, Home, bouncing back up in the charts last week.
"People think this'll scare us and shut us up and it's gonna do the opposite," said Maines. "They just served themselves a huge headache."
They have a first ammendment right to freedom of expression, but if we exercise our right to ignore them, they have a fit. Love it!
I watched the interview this evening. Some of the statements were mind-numbingly shallow. I wouldn't spend a dime on their products.
You're right about that. If anything, they seemed MORE leftist than Maines.
Precisely!
March 10: Maines unveils her true passion: She trashes the president on foreign soil on the eve of war
Early April (reported April 4): Margy Holland in Nashville (Launch News) reports: "Maines, however, has reacted more flippantly to the situation, according to reports. The singer said, 'The more flack I get for it, the prouder I am.' "
Google News (posted article here), April 25: Nataline Maines: "People think this'll scare us & shut us up & it's gonna do the opposite. They just served themselves a huge headache."
Asked to address President Bush by Diane Sawyer on 4/24 interview--should the President be watching, Maines' eyes revealed a glint of "I'd tell him off" and told Sawyer: "Your show's not long enough."
I remember a song by Alan Jackson a couple years back - Gone Country. He sings how other artists, at the end of their careers, go country to jump start their life and careers. A subtle putdown of those in CW who were not really country.
ABC's hour-long free commercial for the 'Sluts {their own tattoed moniker!} on 4/24 was certainly subtle at times:
Did you note the graphics used three times of Maines (twice) and another celeb w/tape over their mouth? Oh, sure, the real problem is with conservatives who want to silence others, not with folks who think they can compartmentalize character & consequences from their behavior. The real problem is w/liberals who think there's a protective condom for every illicit sex act; an abortion for every "infringement" on their deluded "right" to parental sovereignty; and an escape hatch they call "protected free speech" for every bumble that flies out of "Wide Open Spaces."
Diane Sawyer at times framed the issue as "uncontrolled rage" {those conservatives are getting uppity again!) and "real questions about free speech" (sorry, freedom ALWAYS has a cost to it; 'tis called responsibilty & accountability).
Right before Sawyer's "encourage the enemy" question of the Chickidies, Sawyer meandered, "they say don't even normal people have a right to wonder...doubt" {the President)? Several times during the interview, "the right to question" came up. I'm sorry, Natalie, where again was your question mark in your original March 10 15-word statement?
And, finally, one of the other chicks (not Natalie) said toward the end of the Sawyer interview: "I will not let someone tell me I'm unpatriotic." Really, you mean, you'll censor us?
So our President can't tell Natalie, "I will not let someone say they're ashamed of me on foreign soil on the eve of war"; but tis OK for the Chix to ordain a solemn oath that "I will not let someone tell me I'm unpatriotic."
Oh, you mean, Natalie, the impression that it's OK to pose nude for mag covers even if it's only some other nude body to make a statement? Or even if you lead thousands of other girls to think it's your body and that's OK to flaunt for the sake of a career boost in a time of crisis?
There ya go, FREEPERS: Natalie Maines says she a "role model" for your daughters. Are you going to agree with her by not freeping her web sites or by not calling her concert sponsor, LIPTON TEA--1/800/697-7887? (Lipton is a product of Unilever, traditionally a corporation that tends to year in, year out have one of the worst marketing discernment problems in terms of which TV programs they sponsor, according to the American Family Asso)
I'll post true # later
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