FReep "Bait and Switch" Ronstadt

7-21-04 | Bob J

[Bob J]

Linda Ronstadt has made it clear she will continue inserting her vitriolic political commentary into her concerts. I think the the venues hosting them should know that customers like us go to concerts to hear music and be entertained not lectured, screemed at or propagandized. If we want politics, we will turn on the news or read a paper. Let these venues know that we will cancel are tickets and refuse to see any more Ronstadt concerts until she performs as she was hired to do and why we bought tickets. Mention that you intend to tell your friends, relatives and family about this.

I could only find a couple more appearances in the Ronstadt Concert schedule through September, it appears she is taking August off.

Thu, 07/22/04 / Wente Vineyards
5050 Arroyo Road, Livermore, CA 94550
email concerts@wentevineyards.com
phone 925-456-2424
fax 925-456-2466

Fri, 07/23/04 Montalvo
P.O. Box 158
Saratoga, CA 95071-0158
408.961.5800 - Phone
408.961.5850 - Fax
jrobinson@villamontalvo.org

Sat, 07/24/04 Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium At Marin Center
3501 Civic Center Drive Room #415 San Rafael, CA 94903
Phone: (415) 499-6387
Fax: (415) 499-3795
parksoscult@co.marin.ca.us

07/27/04 Summer Nights At the Pier 62/63
programming@onereel.org
(206) 281-7788
One Reel
PO Box 9750
Seattle, WA 98109

September 14, 2004 Bass Performance Hall
4th and Calhoun Streets
Fort Worth, Texas 76102
Paul S. Beard Managing Director
pbeard@basshall.com
Toll Free Number
1-877-212-4280

Sample Email;

I understand that Linda Ronstadt will be performing at your venue. Recently, Ms. Ronstadt has been making inappropriate political remarks and comments during her concerts. When I go to hear a singer or band, I go to be entertained, not lectured to. This is not a free speech issue, it is a customer issue. If she wants to express her political beliefs, let her schedule an event to do so, but do not allow her to turn what is advertised as a concert into a political side show.

If Linda Ronstadt wants to be a force for political change, let her run for office, until then I will not be paying good money to hear my beliefs criticized and belittled, and, I will telling my friends and family to do the same.

Regards,

[monkeyshine]

The gall of some entertainers astounds me. Do they really think people are paying them to hear their politics? Shut up and dance!

[Badeye]

I've yet to see a single report demonstrate entertainers are effective as political commentators. I believe this kind of childish BS just demonstrates the worst qualities of the Democrats on a daily basis.

Martin Sheen's rants in 2000 didn't help Gore. The Dixie Chicks comments didn't help the DNC. Susan Saradon only hurt her career (which is why she and boy toy Robbins have been remarkably quiet for months, btw).

I see it like this. When your opponents insist on displaying a infantile view of the world in general, and this President in particular....give em all the media coverage possible. It only reinforces the most disgusting traits required to be a Democrat in the year 2004.

Think it over. Has Gore's rants convinced ANYBODY that "We the People" would have been better served with him as President?

Did Dean's rants help him? How about Kucinich?

I don't want to shut them up, I want them to get even more airtime, more print coverage. Its killing any hope of Kerry pulling out this election in my opinion.

People are tired of this stuff.

[cake_crumb]

Honestly, I doubt emails from irate Americans will bother Rondstadt at all. Her carrer is over, she's middle aged and overweight...she appears to be consciously TRYING to rouse the ire of the VRWC so she can play the voctim card, sing at the Democratic Convention and do the talk show circuit.

Within a few days she'll be on CNN, moaning about all the "hate" mail and "threats" she's gotten. And thinking about the FAT paycheck she's getting for appearing.

[cake_crumb]

"One thing for certain is that they are on the same diet!"

Yeah...Twinkies.

[cake_crumb]

What, not this one?

Hey...where are all the holier than though types flaming us for being "sophmorish" for making fun of a physical aspect? Like they were doing when defending Elizibeth Edwards?

[tertiary01]

I don't think Linda Ronstadt is Michael Moore's type. I have never seen her mentioned with anyone but our California gay ex gov. The talk at that time was she was a shill to fool the citizens into thinking he was a hetero and that she had her own brand of friends she retreated to in the off hours.

[cake_crumb]

"The talk at that time was she was a shill to fool the citizens into thinking he was a hetero and that she had her own brand of friends she retreated to in the off hours."

Ewwwww....not surprising in a state where people invent a different gender every day. Heck, we don't even know if Moore is hetero.

[Big Guy and Rusty 99]

bump.

[Gopher Broke]

Be sure to send a note to Bill Timmins, President of the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, to THANK HIM for having the COURAGE to fire this left-wing idiot....on the spot.

reservations@aladdincasino.com

[Bob J]

I have to disagree with you on several points.

"I've yet to see a single report demonstrate entertainers are effective as political commentators. I believe this kind of childish BS just demonstrates the worst qualities of the Democrats on a daily basis."

This is political naivete. You're confusing negative conservative reaction to lib entertainers and negative lib reaction to conservative entertainers with the reaction from the middle roaders (swing voters), which you can't possibly judge or evaluate. I haven't seen a single report about the effectiveness of entertainment political commentary either, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. To reject out of hand that they may have influence just because you haven't seen a report on it, is an invalid conclusion.

"Martin Sheen's rants in 2000 didn't help Gore."

You can't possibly know this with any degree of certainty. The last I checked Gore won a plurality of the vote. Who knows how many undecided voters, WEst Wing fans or teenage MTV listeners were affected by his comments.

"The Dixie Chicks comments didn't help the DNC. Susan Saradon only hurt her career (which is why she and boy toy Robbins have been remarkably quiet for months, btw)."

Once again, how do you know they didn't help the DNC? What is certain is they definitely hurt their careers, but that only happened because their was a very public backlash to them. You are quoting examples to support your position that, IMHO, contradict them and support mine.

"I see it like this. When your opponents insist on displaying a infantile view of the world in general, and this President in particular....give em all the media coverage possible. It only reinforces the most disgusting traits required to be a Democrat in the year 2004."

Infantile to whom? You? Me? This stuff looks ridiculous to us, the libs applaud it and the people in the middle don't know what to think so they wait to see who screams the loudest and many times adopt that position. You say give them all the media coverage, but if we don't speak up that coverage will consist of Dan Rather and CNN talking about how wonderful they are, how meaningful their comments sound and what heroes they are for having the courage to speak their minds.

Those kind of lies, repeated often enough without contradiction, become facts.

"Has Gore's rants convinced ANYBODY that "We the People" would have been better served with him as President?"

As mentioned, apparently 50%+ of the voters. Bush got in due to the quirkiness of the electoral college system.

"People are tired of this stuff."

Here is where you make a critical mistake. You're tired of this stuff, conservatives are tired of this stuff. You simply cannot extrapolate your views on to the population as a whole. You may be right, you may be wrong, but nobody knows. Saying that as a statement of fact is simply not correct.

[Bob J]

"Honestly, I doubt emails from irate Americans will bother Rondstadt at all."

That's why they are not going to Ronstadt, they're going to the people who book her into their venues. If they believe booking her will cause a PR nightmare and reduced ticket sales, they might reconsider.

[boop]

This is the REAL scandal. Imagine a performer saying that liberals and Jews in the audience "make them uneasy". How long would the media defend such a person?

[Bob J]

Exactly. Those comments should also be reflected in emails and calls.

[cake_crumb]

Please allow me to point out that 4,500 people reacted negatively to Ronstadt's anti-American behavior.

I'm not making light of your outrage. I consider the crowd's reaction to be a good sign of the mood of American consumers toward performers. Unfortunately, the tickets had already been bought and paid for, or there wouldn't have been thousands of people to begin with...but how many tickets will she sell now?

[Bob J]

Have you got an eddress that goes directly to him?

[1Old Pro]

07/27/04 Summer Nights At the Pier 62/63

She'll be confused with the whales

[L.N. Smithee]

Linda Ronstadt was fired by the Aladdin in Las Vegas for dedicating a ballad to Michael Moore Saturday night. It's so sad. Hardly a day goes by that SlimFast doesn't cross another name off the list of possible replacements for Whoopi Goldberg.

I remember Argus Hamilton way back in the glory days of "rock and roll" standup, in the Steve Martin/Robin Williams era. Every so often, he would be quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle by a sports columnist. I had no idea he was such a conservative ("I'm an English Monarchist and a Southern secessionist. Let's see Rush Limbaugh get to the right of that").

Speaking of Southern standup guys -- has anyone seen Ritch Shydner lately? Shydner is the funniest comedian that you can take your parents to see without worrying.

[pookie18]

Here's Hamilton's daily column:

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0704/hamilton.html

[cake_crumb]

It never hurts to let businesses know how much money booking Ronstadt will lose them. But lets put into perspective the audience she's now catering to, using her hero, Michael Moore's REAL numbers:

F/911 opened in the US on June 23, 2004. To date it's earned $80,090,000 worldwide.

By contrast, The Passion of the Christ, released Feb 25/04 has earned $609,432,506 . OK, so it had a few months head start. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkhaban was released on June 04, 2004. IT has earned $601,950,000 to date.

The point is that despite the hype, very few people are paying to see Moore's tinfoil hat conspiracy theory movie...and THAT is the same proportion of people who'll go see his new, #1 fan sing.

It's not just what we call conservatives that are tired of the daily hate speeches and wacked out conspiracy theories. It's everyone except for the total wingnuts that already know who they're voting for...IF they vote at all.

[Bob J]

I agree and would like to point out that it was the people who walked out of her concert and it was the people demonstrating public outrage at what she did that has brought it to attention of the media and public in general.

Without that kind of activism, without people seeing other people outraged, some might accept it as the prevailing opinion and then as their own.

People have a herd mentality. When not sure about their own views, they skeddadle to the relative safety of majority opinion. Sometimes they never figure it out for themselves. The left for decades has been using peer pressure as a technique to not only keep their own troops on the straight and narrow, but also to manipulate mass opinion.