Linda Rondstat thrown out of casino for supporting Michael Moore!

The BBQ Pit
#21

well it seemed odd to me that you gave a pass to the actual vandals to condem the object of their scorn.

and it seems to me to be an absurd position that an entertainer has to figure out the political leanings of all of their audiences and make sure not to offend those sensabilities. (there was one quarter of the audience who was offended).

Almost as odd to me as the position of those who usually cry about "poliical correctness’ wqhere some audience members are offended, and here they are taking the position that the entertainer mustn’t offend some small segment of their audience, who are misbehaving.

again. the people who were the absolute assholes here were the vandals who intentionally caused damage. well, and those excusing the behavior by asigning blame to the entertainer.

#22

Was it in her contract that she couldn’t mention that she liked MM’s 9/11? Personally, I don’t see that as something that should start a riot. It’s something you might roll your eyes at, but I don’t see how it’s a breach of contract or even incitement.

Do Republicans even have a sense of irony or proportion anymore? They’re trained by hate radio to go into fits of anti-liberal frothing whenever wrong views are expressed, but then unerringly switch into complaining how negative liberals are.

I just a few days ago listened to a guy from the Cato Institute and the Club for Growth chuckling about an anti-Dean ad that was basically just a string of invective about liberals (Volvo driving, New York wearing, blah blah blah). And then he switched right into how outrageous it is that Michael Moore hates Bush. Then he switches over into bitching about the liberal “elite” who don’t think they know better than everyone else but it quickly became obvious that this definition wasn’t based on anything other than ideology: wealthly think-tank babies like him don’t count.

#23

Entertainer who pisses off customers who combined paid probably close to $50K for their show tickets, fired, promptly removed. Whats so weird about that? Not many people in the world get to royally piss off customers and keep their jobs.

If any well known performer does something that seems horribly out of charachter, they should plan on losing money/gigs. Would you expect a Weird Al performance to turn into a black tie ballroom dance or Margaret Cho to start trashing overweight homosexuals?

#24

wring,

I didn’t excuse their behaviour.

She pissed off bunch customers. Maybe even intentionally.

The assholes are Rondstat, the vandals, the management, and the folks that think that she got a too raw of deal.

Any fucking moron, even a leftwing one, ought to know that the lying sack of shit known as Michael Moore is not a well liked guy. I bet alot of the complainers weren’t even Republicans.

#25

Spilled drinks and torn posters/signage: Cost money to clean up and fix
Putting the casino in the position of refunding 1,000 pissed customers: Costs money to clean up and fix.

If she intentionally made inflammatory statements with the intent of getting fired from this gig she should and IIRC can be held accountable for the damages/loss of revenues.

#26

I can only speak for myself, but I sure as hell wouldn’t, unless the performer were gushing to the exclusion of performing. I judge the art, not the artist. Fuck, I even went to see The Pianist in the theaters, and Roman Polanski has done a lot worse in his life than disagree with me politically.

#27

The “management” part wasn’t supposed to be there. :smack:

#28

Heh. That seems to me to be something properly left between the casino’s owners and the customers. As it happens, the casino’s owners (controlled by noted non-Republican Robert Earl of Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood fame) plan to pretty much tear the joint apart themselves come Labor Day to turn it into a Planet Hollywood. For all we know, they’ve got signs up begging people to do the demolotion work for them.

More likely, given a promoter like Earl, is that the whole thing was exaggerated from start to finish to gain some publicity in hopes that someone actually tries to navigate the famously unfindable entrance to the casino to see what happened. At this point, I wouldn’t be inclined to believe much beyond “Ms. Ronstadt behaved in a way calculated to get her not asked back,” and "she indeed will not be asked back (at least until it’s a PH and they can have an equally notorious reconciliation and a five-week engagement.) The “vandalism,” the “quite a scene at the box office,” the “escorted out,” etc.? I’d want to see some confirmation from third parties.

#29

simply amazing.

we cannot, apparently, trust the account of vandalism, and ‘escorted out’, but we’re to trust the same damn account for attributation of her motives.

and just as amazing is the raft of folks willing to overlook, excuse, or simply not comment on, poor behavior of destructive patrons.

#30

Actually, no, I’m relying on Ms. Ronstadt’s direct fucking quote as to her motives, and even then I’m allowing for the possibility that it was fabricated for mutual publicity. But feel free to continue to attribute false motives to me.

#31

Her contract was only for the one night. The management was probably probably protecting itself by having her escorted out. They wouldn’t want a popular celebrity attacked and injured on their property.

Singers can dedicate their performances to whomever they want to. I am not interested in policing their thoughts or censoring a tribute. I didn’t like some of the things that John Wayne used to say but I loved the old coot and his movies anyway.

Those who blame Ronstadt for their acts of vandalism are playing an old game called “See What You Made Me Do.” I assume they no longer really believe in freedom of speech. A little hissing and booing would have made their point just fine.

But I was rather pleased to know that only 1/4 left. (Some of them may have chosen to exit because things were getting ugly – not for political reasons.)

#32

Well, then it’s all right then, huh? I bet that was on the ticket. “Please destroy something on the way out.”

I agree that we’re probably not hearing the whole story but I would tend to lay greater fault at the feet of the people who started throwing drinks than the person who dedicated a song.

#33

Posted by Brutus:

That was probably because she’s an excellent singer in two languages, with a distinctive style. Thanks for being so consistently a schmuck.

Unless Ms. Rondstadt’s contract included specific limitations on whom she could dedicate a song to, she did nothing wrong, either ethically or artistically. Apparently the Aladdin’s patrons include a number of irrational fools with no respect for the property or rights of others.

#34

Here’s a more amazing one:

A conference hired Margaret Cho as their act, but partway through her sketch they yanked her mike and hustled her off stage because they were pissed that she ranted against Bush.

Margaret Cho! What the fuck did they think she was going to talk about? The weather?

#35

I sure wish there were some real information in that article. So far, this is what I have:
Linda Ronstadt wanted to annoy the people who hired her, so she wouldn’t be invited back.
She dedicated a song to Michael Moore.
(Nothing said about how that was done, or what she said.)
That dedication angered people, some of whom committed vandalism on the venue.
(No indication of how many people were actually involved in this.)
A fairly large number of people walked out on the performance.
After the performance, she was escorted out of the casino.
(No indication of why this was done, might have been for her own safety, might have been because they were ticked off at her).
She won’t be invited back.

So, thrown out, fired, anything like that, would be a bit more than is actually said here, especially since the engagement was only for one night in the first place.

Likewise, the implication that large numbers of the disgruntled participated in the vandalism is unfounded. Obviously, too many, since one would be too many, but it just doesn’t say.

Other than that, a performer did something during a concert that audience members didn’t like or felt was inappropriate and they expressed their dislike by leaving.

I think I need more info before I have much of an opinion at all, really, except about the vandals, and they were wrong all the way.

#36

But those Sweet Asian Girls are usually so polite! :smiley:

(Maybe the organisers just thought All-American Girl looked good on her resume?)

I want to bear Margaret Cho’s children, incidentally.

#37

Jiminy Cricket. You have a performer who gets up in front of the sort of crowd that goes to see “entertainment” in those places, decides to make a political statement by dedicating a song to someone as controversial as Michael Moore, and you think she could possibly be shocked and surprised that a large segment of the audience gets upset? That was the whole point, most likely.

"Linda Rondstadt, persecuted by Vegas uglies for her political courage, is available to sing at YOUR venue! Call NOW (bookings are going FAST)!

For some reason, the crowd reaction reminds me of that old Martin Mull blues number:

"I woke up this afternoon
Both cars were gone
I woke up this afternoon (Lawd)
Both cars were gone

I felt so low-down deep inside
I threw my drink across the lawn

#38

Her contract probably didn’t say that she couldn’t strip naked and take a shit on stage either. She knew that what she was doing would piss off a lot of the patrons. Her remarks afterwards are proof of that. She was being paid to entertain the patrons. She failed to do that by antagonizing a significant portion of them. I don’t have a clue about artisitically but she mislead her client (the casino) and that was ethically wrong.

That doesn’t excuse the vandals in the audience.

Margaret Cho is another story altogether. When you go to see her, you should expect something controversial.

Haj

#39

Did he make a recording? I love his song DO The Nothing

#40

Some would prefer that to Moore, I’ll bet!