Posted on 07/20/2004 9:43:45 PM PDT by conservative in nyc
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 one person who was present - William Timmins, the Aladdin's president - it was "a very ugly scene." Mr. Timmins promptly made it even uglier. He had Ms. Ronstadt ejected from the premises.
This behavior assumes that Ms. Ronstadt had no right to express a political opinion from the stage. It implies - for some members of the audience at least - that there is a philosophical contract that says an artist must entertain an audience only in the ways that audience sees fit. It argues, in fact, that an artist like Ms. Ronstadt does not have the same rights as everyone else.
Perhaps her praise for Mr. Moore, even at the very end of her show, did ruin the performance for some people. They have a right to voice their disapproval - to express their opinion as Ms. Ronstadt expressed hers and to ask for a refund. But if their intemperate behavior began to worry the management, then they were the ones who should have been thrown out and told never to return, not Ms. Ronstadt, who threatened, after all, only to sing.
It's not her stage. Of course I wouldn't expect a defense of property rights from the New York Times.
Their lips are moving, but all I hear is "Waah Waaah Waaah"...
You upset owner you get booted, she got her wish she doesn't want to tour any more, she won't.
What a worthless argument. I'm truly surprised they printed this. Let's see when they condemn the next left-wing protestors, hecklers etc. and demand the police remove them.
Nothing more needs to be said than what you stated in # 1, and it's so patently obvious that it speaks of the intelligence level of the NYT subscribers who swallow such tripe.
Did the Slimes do a similar sob story on behalf of Rush Limbaugh when he got fired from ESPN?
When Timmin's evicted Linda Ronstadt, he was exercising a right that all business executives have: The right to refuse service to anyone.
The audience has just as much a right to free speech as Tubby does --- liberals believe that leftist celebrities have free speech rights but the audience must sit there and listen because they're the little people.
Wrong, she didn't "only sing". That was the problem.
If you're going to run around expressing obnoxious political opinions when they're not asked for, expected or desired you have to be prepared to take what follows. Sometimes you get a clap on the back, sometimes a punch in the nose and sometimes you get kicked out of the Aladdin Hotel and Casino.
She had the "right" to speak out and her audience had the right to express they disdain. Which they very nicely did!
Unfortunately, ronstadt is still working. On the night after her Aladdin disgrace, she performed in San Diego.
These guys, just like the folks in Hollywierd, don't get it. Laura Ingrahm said it best "Shut Up and SIng"...No you don't have a right to take my money for an entertaining evening and then procedd to blast your politics at me. If you do , I will boo and hsout and I guarantee I will never by another product of yours again ever...Life's tough get a helmet
She didn't only threaten to sing --- she got all pompous and figured she could lecture and politicize an event that was supposed to just be about her singing. The people are starting to rebel against the tyranny of the liberals.
What better demonstration of a looney desperado philosophy of the Left than this trite editorial about some meaningless fracas by a has been carnie?!
Expressly prohibited: foul language, removing clothing, exposing breasts, mooning the crowd, eating donuts or pies while performing, and commenting on anything other than her music.
ROFLOL!
Joke! NYT has a right to express an opinion from the trash can or paper recycling bin.
"not Ms. Ronstadt, who threatened, after all, only to sing."
That is the stupidest part of the article. After saying she had a right to "express her opinion" the slimes then change it to she only came to sing. Which is it?
Typical democratic leftist logic. Jerk.
Really, now, we plebians in flyover country just don't understand how the country is supposed to work!
(that wasn't too sarcastic, was it?)
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