Posted on 09/14/2006 8:25:48 PM PDT by kristinn
SNIP
Oscar-winning doc filmmaker Barbara Kopple ("Harlan County USA," "American Dream") teamed up with collaborator Cecilia Peck to co-direct a behind the scenes look at the best-selling female group of all time, "The Dixie Chicks." The film, "Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing" was initially envisioned as a much more modest project, according to the band's Natalie Maines who spoke at a press conference this week at the Toronto International Film Festival. "We originally thought of having a filmmaker [to capture footage] for ourselves or as a supplement to some concert DVD release," said Maines. But Maines' now famous off-handed comment during a March, 2003 concert in London not only caused a tidal change for the Dixie Chicks' relationship with many of their fans, it also motivated Kopple to and Peck to expand the scale of the project.
"After the comment, we were really excited to do something more with the Dixie Chicks because they were willing to put everything on the line to stand up for what they believed in," said Kopple in Toronto. Lubbock, TX-raised Maines' remark, which caused an avalanche of criticism by right-wingers in the U.S. on the heels of the Iraq invasion was: "We're embarrassed that the President is from Texas." Perhaps not since John Lennon uttered the infamous remark that the Beatles were more famous then Jesus over three decades earlier had the reaction been so swift and vile. Right-wing groups responded with radio boycotts and CD burnings, and even a death threat against Maines.
"If we had been someone like Merle Haggard, it might have been spun like some kind of [cool] rebellion," said fellow bandmate Emily Robison about the early days of the controversy. "But people just don't like mouthy women in country music."
While the fallout from Maines' London comment is a focus of the film, "Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing" also takes viewers into personal arenas of the band, including balancing careers with motherhood, and there's also segments on Maines and fellow Chick Martie Maguire's in-vitro pregnancies in addition to their journey in the studio creating their latest album "Taking the Long Way," which debuted at number one on the Billboard charts this summer.
But it was the controversy and its repercussions that received the biggest attention at Wednesday's press conference. "We were their wet dream," said Maines about the right wing as well as political website The Free Republic in particular for organizing a substantial portion of the backlash. "We've been playing to about half the audiences we used to, but they're great and it feels like they have a purpose for being there... for free speech," added Maguire about their latest tour. "I have sat among the audience and it's been electric," said Kopple. "People have been singing, and holding up signs saying, 'Thank You!'"
Now a few years on, the band is still surprised that a one-off remark could cause such an uproar, and repeatedly referenced that surprise during the conversation in Toronto. "I would've never thought that me saying that would've brought on the reaction it did - with people banning us from the radio and me getting death threats." Yet, when asked by a member of the press about their feelings about Bush, they are steadfast. "A major disappointment... A major disgrace [when seeing] footage of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath. [Bush] has been a disaster, and seeing Spike Lee's documentary ("When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts") was awful."
At the world premiere of their film the night before in Toronto, co-director Cecilia Peck paid tribute to Canada on stage ahead of the screening, which the three band members recalled during the hour-long conversation with press the following day. Said Peck, "It's great to have the world premiere in a country where something like that which happened to the Dixie Chicks could never happen." "I think Americans should think about that," added one of the Chicks. [Brian Brooks]
A Wet Dream comment from a Dry Hole…Now THAT'S FUNNY!
That's a little West Texas humor for my friends in Rio Linda, CA:-)
NatalieMaines:WetDream::BucketOfWater:HungUpDogs
DIXIE CHICKS ANNOUNCEMENT BOOED AT CHRIS DAUGHTRY CONCERT IN GREENSBORO --- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1645983/posts
A wet dream is obviously what these b*tches need..
BAAAAWWWWAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh!
Um, yeah... Try badmouthing the French language then trying to play a concert in Quebec, or ridiculing hockey fans and trying to play a concert anywhere in Canada *but* Qeubec, etc.
In any country, there are things you can say that'll get you boycotted by a large fraction of the public if you're stupid enough to say them into a microphone, then stupid enough to insult the offended fans for being offended.
I like to do that kind of picture-matching myself from time to time, and I know how hard it can be to come up with a set that's as well-matched as the ones you managed to produce. I salute you.
A single and celibate man, I do find solace in that.
Yeah, cause that "Earls gotta die" song made them so attractive. Natalie shut up and.... well just shut up.
They just don't get it... The 1st Ammendment gives you free speech, not freedom from accountability. When you say stupid and offensive things about and to your audience, you have to pay the price.
Please ping me to that post when you make it. Thanks.
Plus you know it's just a matter of time before Bigmouth Natalie manages to say something to tick off the *rest* of her fans too...
"F U L L B O D Y S H U D D E R"
Dry Heaves. (Thank goodness I read this on an empty stomach)
LOL! Thanks for this, kristinn! The Vichy Chix: has-beens who were never-weres!
Of course it's true. If the Dixie Chicks are the Freepers wet dream....then it's clear that the Freepers are the Dim's worst nighmare....especially to such nitwits as Dan Rather, John Kerry, Hillary, Al Franken, and many more....
LOL! What a doormat.
She just quacks me up--what a blooming idiot!
The Chixie Dicks.
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