http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/19/...ain630606.shtml


Vegas To Ronstadt: You're No Good

LAS VEGAS, July 19, 2004


(AP) Singer Linda Ronstadt not only got booed, she got the boot after lauding filmmaker Michael Moore and his new movie, Fahrenheit 9/11 during a performance at the Aladdin hotel-casino.

Before singing "Desperado" for an encore Saturday night, the 58-year-old rocker called Moore a "great American patriot" and "someone who is spreading the truth." She also encouraged everybody to see the documentary about President Bush.

Ronstadt's comments drew loud boos and some of the 4,500 people in attendance stormed out of the theater. People also tore down concert posters and tossed cocktails into the air.

"It was a very ugly scene," Aladdin President Bill Timmins told The Associated Press. "She praised him and all of a sudden all bedlam broke loose."

Timmins, who is British and was watching the show, decided Ronstadt had to go — for good. Timmins said he didn't allow Ronstadt back in her luxury suite and she was escorted off the property.

Ronstadt's antics "spoiled a wonderful evening for our guests and we had to do something about it," Timmins said.

Timmins said it was the first time he sent a performer packing.

"As long as I'm here, she's not going to play," Timmins said.

Ronstadt had been booked to play the Aladdin for only one show.

Calls to Ronstadt's manager were not immediately returned.

In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal before the show, Ronstadt said "I keep hoping that if I'm annoying enough to them, they won't hire me back."

Looks like she got her wish.


© MMIV The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Ronstadt: I'll continue praising Moore
'I'm saying, get information'
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Linda Ronstadt said she'll continue to praise Michael Moore and his film "Fahrenheit 9/11" on stage despite an angry reaction at a Las Vegas concert.
"This is an election year," she told the Los Angeles Times Tuesday. "I want people to get their head up out of their mashed potatoes and learn something about the issues and go and vote. ... I'm not telling them how to vote. I'm saying, get information about the issues."...
http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/2...t.ap/index.html

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 right gives everyone here the right to say whatever they want to say. All Americans hold this right as sacred. Many of our young people put on a uniform and risk their lives to defend it. My film is all about asking the questions that should have been asked before those brave soldiers were sent into harms way.
For you to throw Linda Ronstadt off the premises because she dared to say a few words in support of me and my film, is simply stupid and Un-American. Frankly, I have never heard of such a thing happening. I read that you wouldn't even let her go back up to her room at your hotel! Are you crazy? For crying out loud, it was a song DEDICATION! To "Desperado!" Every American loves that song! Sure, some people didn't like the dedication, and that's their right. But neither they nor you have the right to remove her from your building when all she did was exercise her AMERICAN right to speak her mind.
Of all the things that go on in Las Vegas, this is what creates the need for serious action? What about the other half of the crowd at the Aladdin who, according to the Las Vegas Sun, cheered her when she made her remarks? Did you throw them out, too?
I think you owe Ms. Ronstadt an apology. And I have an idea how you can make it up to her -- and to the millions of Americans you have offended. Invite her back and I'll join her in singing "America the Beautiful" on your stage. Then I will show "Fahrenheit 9/11" free of charge to all your guests and anyone else in Las Vegas who wants to see it.
Mr. Timmins, as the song "Desperado" says -- "Come to your senses!" How can you refuse this offer? I await your reply.
Yours,
Michael Moore
Director, "Fahrenheit 9/11"
If you missed her in Vegas, you can hear her at home... <http://www.elektra.com/lindaronstadt/music/>
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=93

Desperadoes

Something 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.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/21/opinion/...x=buzzflash.com


...The Los Angeles Times and Associated Press reported that Ronstadt was escorted off the property, not allowed to return to her room and booed off the stage and that people were throwing drinks by the close of her show.

None of those things happened, she said...

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?pag...072104_ronstadt

Hmm. The LA Times and AP or the Tucson Citizen. Whom to believe?

Well, the Tucson Citizen give quotes from Ronstadt explaining how the whole thing happened. But is it for real?

It's becoming impossible to believe anything you read or hear anymore. Even journalists in the likes of the NY Times make up stories and lie. Are there no reliable sources anymore?

No. There's an old story among cops. If you go to an accident scene and there are 10 eye witnesses; you'll get 10 different versions of what happened.

In this case Ronstadt was on stage and due to the lights and sound equipment may not have been fully aware of what was going on in the audience or in the rest of the casino.

Either way it his her word against the current owners of the Alladin. BTW the Alladin is being sold next month (its been a money loser since it opened which is something difficult to do in Vegas) and the new owner has said Ronstadt is welcome back anytime.