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Planet Hollywood's star cash error Bruce Willis and Demi Moore were among the backers Troubled restaurant chain Planet Hollywood wrote off $5m (£3.2m) of loans to celebrities because its founders were more worried about being friends with the stars than the company's financial problems, a report has said. The high-profile themed restaurant became a worldwide chain after being launched with backing from stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore and Sylvester Stallone. But its founders, Robert Earl and Keith Barrish, have been criticised for their links with stars as their company tries to escape bankruptcy, owing $20m (£13m) to...

COURTNEY LOVE, the rock star, recently discovered that she has been paying her dog walker $100,000 a year. Another member of her staff, she thinks, charged a BMW to her credit card. Largely because of the wasting effect drugs have had on a brain with not a lot of spare ballast, Ms Love is falling apart like a speeding bicycle with all of the bolts missing. At a press conference held in the public toilets of the courthouse where she showed up five hours late for a hearing, she told reporters: “Mrs Consuela was the pet name for his genitals.”...

LIVERMORE - Linda Ronstadt's political message sent close to a hundred concert-goers home early Thursday evening. What had been a mellow evening at Wente Vineyards, with the crowd even serenading her with "Happy Birthday" at one point, turned into a rush for the exits by some fans angry by her encore tribute to filmmaker Michael Moore. "She just had to do it," one fan steamed as he headed for the parking lot. "It was good until the end," another yelled to TV crews waiting outside the concert. "She's getting out of line; it's ridiculous," said Cindy Williams of Livermore, as...

LINDA RONSTADT is doing a fine job of destroying what is left of her fan base. Last Saturday the owner of the Aladdin hotel and casino in Las Vegas had her escorted off the property after a large chunk of the crowd became enraged when she praised Michael Moore and dedicated the Eagles song “Desperado” to him. After fans booed, defaced her posters and demanded their money back, Ronstadt attempted to justify her blunder with the customary blather about wanting to raise political awareness. “This is an election year,” she told the Los Angeles Times after the event. “I want...

Just days after getting booted from the Aladdin Hotel Casino for praising Moore as "patriot" and dedicating her encore song, "Desperado," to him, Ronstadt is already entertaining offers of a comeback. On Wednesday, one of the prospective new owners of the Aladdin, Robert Earl, issued a statement of support for Ronstadt. "We respect artists' creativity and support their rights to express themselves," Earl said. "We were very sorry to hear about the unfortunate circumstances of this past Saturday night and want to make it clear that Planet Hollywood has never, in our 13 year history, restricted any artists' right to...

The Punch Line "It's a real conflict for me when I go to a concert and find out somebody in the audience is a Republican or fundamental Christian. It can cloud my enjoyment. I'd rather not know." -- Ronstadt, in a San Diego Union-Tribune interview.

One of the partners buying the Aladdin hotel-casino says singer Linda Ronstadt would be welcomed back to the property when he takes over. Ronstadt was kicked out over the weekend by current management for praising filmmaker Michael Moore. But Planet Hollywood CEO Robert Earl says he'd like to see them both on stage. Earl wants to take Moore up on his offer to join Ronstadt and sing "America the Beautiful." Earl's management team could take control of the bankrupt casino as early as September. Current Aladdin President Bill Timmins had Ronstadt escorted off the property after she called Moore a...

LAS VEGAS - One of the partners buying the Aladdin hotel-casino said singer Linda Ronstadt (news) would be welcomed back to the property after the performer was kicked out over the weekend by current management for praising filmmaker Michael Moore. Planet Hollywood CEO Robert Earl of Orlando, Fla., said he'd like to take Moore up on the filmmaker's offer to join Ronstadt on Aladdin's stage and sing "America the Beautiful" when Earl's management team takes control of the bankrupt casino, as early as September. "We respect artists' creativity and support their rights to express themselves," Earl said in a statement...

Thanks to negotiations today (July 21) between the Recording Artists Coalition (RAC) and the prospective new owners of Las Vegas's Alladin Theater, expect to see RAC member Linda Ronstadt back at the venue this fall -- with filmmaker Michael Moore on backup vocals. The singer was the recipient of heavy-handed treatment Saturday (July 17) when she dedicated the Eagles' "Desperado" (co-written by RAC co-founder Don Henley) to Moore, the director of the anti-President Bush documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11." News reports said some in the audience booed, stormed out of the theater and tore down posters. Reports also said Ronstadt was escorted...

Open Letter to Bill Timmins, President Aladdin Casino and Hotel Bill Timmins President Aladdin Casino and Hotel Las Vegas, NV July 20, 2004 Dear Mr. Timmins: I understand from the news reports I've read that, after Linda Ronstadt, one of America's greatest singers, dedicated a song to me from your stage on Saturday night, you instructed your security guards to remove her from the Aladdin, which they did. What country do you live in? Last time I checked, Las Vegas is still in the United States. And in the United States, we have something called "The First Amendment." This constitutional...

NEW YORK The media storm over singer Linda Ronstadt getting booted out of a Las Vegas casino reached as far as the editorial page of The New York Times today, but a local daily, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, has been there from the start, even before the fateful show at the Aladdin. Today, its columnist Norm Clarke, who writes "Vegas Confidential," declared that Ronstadt's dedication of her encore song, "Desperado," to filmmaker Michael Moore was "only the half of it." Meanwhile, the other local daily, the Las Vegas Sun, has weighed in with an editorial charging that the casino boss...

Linda, We travel to the beat of a different drum common sense is from where you run every time you try to spread your liberal disease You say Moore is a real patriot I say you're both brain dead if you believe lies such as these Yeah, I'm calling you wrong no matter how much you hock it America's not in the market for marxism to roll over our liberty You and Moore deserve each other more than you desreve my dollar you only hurt yourself when you preach your socialism at me so long, who care if you're gone...

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...

DesperadoesPublished: July 21, 2004 omething 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." Elsewhere, audiences have reacted to the mention of Mr. Moore by cheering, booing, walking out and sometimes glaring at one another in parking lots. At the Aladdin, a few audience members tore down posters, threw drinks and demanded their money back. According to...

LAS VEGAS -- Singer Linda Ronstadt not only got booed, she got the boot after praising filmmaker Michael Moore and his new movie "Fahrenheit 9/11" during a performance. Before singing "Desperado" for an encore Saturday night, Ronstadt called Moore a "great American patriot" and "someone who is spreading the truth." She also encouraged the audience at the Aladdin hotel-casino to see the documentary about President Bush.

Linda Ronstadt:Snow White in South Africaby Aaron Latham Rolling Stone, August 18, 1983 Linda Ronstadt is special. Her voice is special. Her choices have been special, too. Especially her choice to become the rock star who sings grand opera. She started with Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance. And now she is preparing to undertake the role of Mimi in Puccini's La Boheme. While other rock stars have been taking drug overdoses, she has been taking Italian. Linda Ronstadt is special, and yet she went to South Africa. She is special, and yet she chose to perform in a reviled...

Ronstadt Explains: 'I'm not telling them how to vote. I'm saying, get information about the issues'...

Singer Linda Ronstadt appears to have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward Republicans and Christians who might be in her audiences – she'd rather not know they are there. In a recent interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, the entertainer said: "This is an election year, and I think we're in desperate trouble and it's time for people to speak up and not pipe down. It's a real conflict for me when I go to a concert and find out somebody in the audience is a Republican or fundamental Christian. It can cloud my enjoyment. I'd rather not know."...

Hollywood Backlash Continuesby William R Alford - July. 20, 2004 Certain entertainment industry figures are having a tough time going beyond their qualifications by engaging in political discourse. 1970s diva Linda Ronstadt was recently booed off the stage for casting filmmaker Michael Moore as a truth-spreading “patriot” and encouraging the audience to see Fahrenheit 9/11. Las Vegas’ Aladdin Hotel president Bill Timmins reportedly had Ronstadt summarily ejected from her quarters for having “spoiled a lovely evening for our guests” by needlessly causing “all bedlam” to break loose. [Note: there were no fires, looting, brawling, etc. – these were not...

The real deal Linda Ronstadt's current tour – 'a history lesson of music' – reflects her dedication to authenticity, and quality By George Varga July 15, 2004 Other singers may have a greater passion for music than Linda Ronstadt. But few have a greater passion for more types of music, or the willingness to perform them, even at the risk of falling on her face. "My career has befuddled other people, and it's befuddled me," admitted Ronstadt, 58, who finds her fans are polarized by her nightly on-stage salute to "Fahrenheit 9/11" filmmaker Michael Moore. "I've been dedicating a song...