Linda Ronstadt Censured for Anti-Bush Remarks
Jerry Fink writes for the Las Vegas Sun
[Aladdin President Bill] Timmins, who was among the almost 5,000 fans in the audience at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts, had Ronstadt escorted to her tour bus and her belongings from her hotel room sent to her. Timmins also sent word to Ronstadt that she was no longer welcome at the property for future performances...
Timmins told Las Vegas Sun gossip columnist Timothy McDarrah: "We live in a city where people come from all over the world to be entertained. We hired Ms. Ronstadt as an entertainer, not as a political activist. Whether you are politically on the left or on the right is not the point. She went up in front of the stage and just let it out. This was not the correct forum for that."
Timmins said she was wrong to bring her politics to the stage. "Our first and only priority is the enjoyment of our customers," he said. "I made the decision to ask Miss Ronstadt to leave the hotel. A situation like that can easily turn ugly and I didn't want anything more to come out of it. There were a lot of angry people there after she started talking.
Funny, I don’t seem to remember incidents like this whenever Clinton was criticized. When such things happen, reactions like Timmins are common: singers (or whoever) aren’t supposed to try to communicate political messages, they are just supposed to sing and entertain people. But since when is any art — especially singing and songwriting — supposed to be apolitical?
Reactions among some fans to Ronstadt’s comments were very negative:
Some of them reportedly defaced posters of her in the lobby, writing comments and tossing drinks on her pictures.
I don’t see any indication that hotel security did anything about the people who were committing vandalism because they didn’t like Ronstadt’s opinions, they just didn’t something about Ronstadt for voicing an opinion that some people didn’t like. Makes sense, right?
One might disagree with the manner or timing that Ronstadt used, but to argue that she shouldn’t communicate anything political during her performance is simply asinine. It betrays a fundamental lack of understanding about art generally and music in particular.
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Talk about asinine. That is the worst argument I have ever heard.
“One might disagree with the manner or timing that Ronstadt used, but to argue that she shouldn’t communicate anything political during her performance is simply asinine. It betrays a fundamental lack of understanding about art generally and music in particular.”
How do you seperate her ‘timing and manner’ from ‘during her performance’? The casino was perfectly in their right to remove Linda. They were paying her to sing.
I seriously doubt all those credentials listed in your bio.
Vote for me
Your lack of contact with arguments and how to structure them is duly noted.
What, you don’t think that there is such a thing as “timing and manner” within a performance?
Why?
And this was the first time a singer ever did anything else while on stage, right?
Given the level of reasoning you employ above, I’m not surprised.