Posted on 04/08/2003 5:34:05 AM PDT by Gothmog
Sometimes forgiveness is hard to come by, as the Dixie Chicks learned Monday night during CMT's annual Flameworthy Video Music Awards.
The trio, currently experiencing a heated backlash for criticizing President Bush during a London concert, didn't attend the event, which is like country's MTV Awards. But at least one presenter tried to put in a good word for them.
"We're in the South, a place of sin and redemption and hopefully forgiveness," said comedian Brett Butler. "So maybe in a couple of weeks, we'll just all try to forgive the Dixie Chicks."
Her words were met with a wall of boos.
Not only that, but the Chicks, one of country's all-time top-selling acts, failed to win any of the four awards for which they were nominated. This is especially significant since the Flameworthies are voted on by fans on CMT's Web site. (Voting closed April 5.) The group/duo category served as an especially biting example of anti-Chicks sentiment.
Though the Chicks' latest album, "Home," has sold more than 3 million copies, the group was beaten by country boy band Rascal Flatts, which has moved less than 500,000 units of its current set, "Melt."
The debate over the Chicks' comments is just one example of how country has emerged as the genre most immediately impacted by the war in Iraq. The current No.1 country song is Darryl Worley's pro-war ballad, "Have You Forgotten," which he performed to a standing ovation during the show. The tune plays like a Bush administration policy paper in linking 9/11 with the situation in Iraq. "And you say we shouldn't worry about bin Laden/Have you forgotten," Worley sang to the cheering crowd.
Others seemed to deliberately avoid commenting on the war. Sheryl Crow, who has worn anti-war clothing and accessories at other award shows this year, simply donned a black Johnny Cash T-shirt when performing "Picture," her hit duet with Kid Rock.
Predictably, the most outspoken artist on the war was firebrand Toby Keith, who co-hosted the program with the seemingly inflatable Pamela Anderson. Early in the evening, he struck a subdued, conciliatory note: "Whether you're for it or against it, let's support the guys and girls who are over there."
But by the end of the night he was performing a medley of Merle Haggard's "Fightin' Side of Me" with his own chest-thumping 9/11 anthem, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)," amid blazing pyrotechnic blasts and showers of confetti.
When "Courtesy" won best video, Keith said, "I'd like to dedicate this great award to Mr. Rumsfeld [Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld] and [General] Tommy Franks and all the people putting it down for us over there. . . . God bless the USA, baby."
She was sober enough to attend an awards show?
If so, they're definitely in the wrong business.
Actually, yes, once. The Lib was George McGovern. After going into business as the owner of a small resort, he bemoaned the regulations foisted upon small business in this country, and said that he wished he had had experience in the private sector before he voted on business regulatory issues.
I would not go so far as to call Kid Rock "semi-country". But I would say Kid Rock has an appreciation of classic country artists (i.e. Hank & David Allen Coe), as he refers to these artists in "American Bad Ass." And there is an occasional country sounding rif in his songs. Assuming your 16 y/o son does not listen to country music, these references & rifs may go over his head.
I remember my disbelief when my father told me that the tune of a Beastie Boys song was stolen from a Led Zeppelin song. Although I had a new appreciation for LZ.
Yeah, forgive and forget, that's my motto.
That line is a HOMERUN!!!
After South Vietnam fell, and the North Vietnamese started trying to take over the rest of SEA, Joan Baez did admit "Well Gee, maybe they weren't just peaceful rice farmers who only wanted to go back to tilling their paddies after all."
Unlike the future Frau Turner, JB admitted this with no apparent commercial pressure or ulterior motives.
ROTFLOL!!!! Sounds like country western musicians are as gung-ho as Freepers. I like em' already!!!
Note: The Dixie Chicks were Bush-bashers long before Porky Maines put her hoof in her mouth. Nobody really believes Natalie's so-called apologies. Forgiveness comes in time when the offender demonstrates true repentance which requires action, not just self-serving words.
Amen to that. Thanks, Gothmog!
If there is an "upside" to war, it is that it forces folks to take sides, and this typically splits along what you might call moral-clarity lines. And one side usually gets it "right," while the other remains "clueless." The Dixie Chicks (et al.) are clueless. So much so, that I doubt Ms. Maines even understands what she did wrong. I gather she remains intransigently unapologetic, when arguably it would do her much more real good to simply say, "I'm sorry. I was wrong. Please forgive me." Both financially and personally.
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