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]
...in a burkha
...with extra strength ductape on her mouth.
IX NIX DIX CHIX
LOL!
Free speech? Give me a break! They can say whatever they want, but they have to accept the consequences.
Hot conservative babes? How do I get on the ping list?
He liked Monica, so maybe he'd like Little Tubbo.
Well it is good publicity anyway.
They did apologize...then they took it back.
THAT'S A BALD-FACED LIE. It's absolute bull, except in Canada, I guess you would say it's "moose."
"Something like that" happens in Canada all the maddog time, and the likes of Barbara Kopple and the clueless Ms. Peck and the Ditzy Chicks haven't made a peep about it, probably because they were so blissfully enjoying their freedom of speech in the United States! I am going after those statements with a freaking vengeance as soon as I have the time, and I feel like making it ASAP. Stay tuned.
Now you're talking.
Hottest conservative women.
(and I mean that in the most conservative way)
Give me a minute - I'll find it on FReeper cgk's ping list.
How much milage are they going to try to get out of one stupid letter that they probably sent to themselves?
Yo! Nats! I don't like you much, but I do not wish you dead. Nobody I know wishes you dead. I hope you live a long, healthy, but not terribly successful life.
Rush Limbaugh gets more death threats in five minutes than the Dixie Chicks would get in five thousand years, if they were to live that long. Which I hope they do, of course.
"Free speech? Give me a break! They can say whatever they want, but they have to accept the consequences."
Bingo.
I have a right to refuse to buy what they're selling, and to let media outlets know that I won't advertise (or even listen) to shows that play their stuff.
If the Dix Chix have their freedom of speech impaired, then their remedy is to force me to listen to (and buy) their songs.
"They flatter themselves as The Dixie Milfs."
MIWLF's is more like it...
They didn't even have to do that. They could have just kept on recording and touring (even including the occasional leftie spout-off) and ignored their critics and the ongoing effect on their careers would have been far less than it was. Instead they chose to become "First Amendment Martyrs" and an "Anti-Bush band" and not everyone wants to spend their money on that. Still it is no big deal either way, and the Ditzes continue to make plenty of dough. They're whining just because like complaining and playing the martyr. Ho hum!
Conservative Babe of the Week - maintained by FReeper "pissant"
That's a funny post.
My mother thanks you.
My father thanks you.
My sister thanks you.
And I thank you.
When are ignorants fools like the Dixie Twits gonna realize that we HAVE free speech here. Only the gov't is prevented from restricting speech.
People ALSO have the freedom to respond to treasonous statements by dorks like these uneducated singers by NOT buying their music and convincing others to boycott their product.
It's an old American tradition going back to the Stamp Act of 1765...but then these idiots would have to have some knowledge of American history before American Idol and the anti-Vietnam War movement to understand that...
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