Ronstadt's words got her escorted out of the building in Vegas.

It was only last year, but already is seems like a distant memory—that crazy era when the Dixie Chicks were all but boot-scootin'-booted out of the country music community because singer Natalie Maines bad-mouthed President Bush before a London audience, telling her British fans "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."

Just so you know, Maines later offered a less-than-heartfelt apology ("As a concerned American citizen, I apologize to President Bush because my remark was disrespectful. I feel that whoever holds that office should be treated with the utmost respect"). But Maines' political will, considering her generally right wing fan base, was admirable; anyone who saw Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 might have longed for Maines' defiant attitude as Britney Spears explained how we should all just do whatever the president says.

One person who definitely did see Moore's propaganda-mentary was Linda Ronstadt, who's now facing a Dixie Chicksian situation based on her comments at a July 17 concert in Vegas. "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,'" reported the Associated Press (which still hasn't run a correction for referring to Ronstadt as a "rocker"). Audience reaction to Rondstadt's enthusiasms was, as widely reported, somewhat unpleasant. "Her comments drew loud boos, and some of the 45-hundred people in attendance stormed out of the theatre. People also tore down her posters and tossed cocktails into the air."

What was less widely reported was that the same thing happened to Rondstadt again a few nights later, in Livermore, Calif. "What had been a mellow evening at Wente Vineyards, with the crowd even serenading her with "Happy Birthday" at one point, turned into a rush for the exits by some fans angry by her encore tribute to filmmaker Michael Moore," reported Bonita Brewer in the Contra Costa Times. The paper noted that Ronstadt's politics "sent close to a hundred concert-goers home early."

One of these disgruntled patrons explained her irritation to Brewer thusly: "She's getting out of line; it's ridiculous."

In other words: this is America, Linda. Just sing "Desperado" and get the hell off the stage.

Elsewhere in the "artists don't deserve opinions" department, Whoopi Goldberg lost about 50 pounds of endorsement contract when Slim-Fast axed her as its spokeswoman, following her use of a dirty joke related to the word "bush" at a John Kerry fundraiser. "The fact that I am no longer the spokesman for Slim-Fast makes me sad," Goldberg allowed in a statement, "but not as sad as someone trying to punish me for exercising my right as an American to speak my mind in any forum I choose."

It makes me kind of sad that a "bush" joke was the best Whoopi Goldberg could come up with.

LOOK AGAIN, ELTON!

Elton John

One person not paying enough attention to such incidents is Sir Elton John, who went on the record regarding American censorship in the July issue of Interview magazine. His comments appeared everywhere before the mag hit the stands; places like the BBC online had Sir Elton suggesting that "stars are scared to speak out against war in Iraq because of 'bullying tactics' used by the US government to hinder free speech."

"People like Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, The Beatles and Pete Seeger were constantly writing and talking about what was going on," the pop star continued. "That's not happening now. As of this spring, there have been virtually no anti-war concerts—or anti-war songs that catch on, for that matter."

Sir Elton apparently missed the Arizona Republic article in late June summarizing the activities of Punkvoter.com, and noting "a tight White House contest has motivated left-leaning performers to collaborate at a level that hasn't been seen since Bob Dylan and Crosby, Stills Nash & Young took on the Vietnam War and conservatives in the 1960's." Maybe John forgot to pick up the Los Angeles Times on July 25 and read the article announcing that "Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, R.E.M., Pearl Jam and a deep roster of other rock stars will unite for politically minded concerts this fall that will give voice to dissatisfaction with the Bush administration…The all-star rock shows [are] are expected to begin in October and target campaign swing states." The Times article detailed even more musical activism, including an Iraq song from Tom Waits ("the first political song of his four-decade career"), a Puff Daddy-helmed hip-hop voter registration drive and Green Day's new album, "a political concept piece."

Is that enough activism, Sir?

PORTER HOUSE

Ashley Judd and Kevin Kline in De-Lovely.

The critics seem to agree that De-Lovely, the Cole Porter bio-pic—starring Kevin Kline as the greatest songwriter ever to emerge from Peru, Ind..—is basically a de-saster. The flick "twinkles and glows," writes Megan Lehmann in the New York Post, "but all the surface razzle-dazzle fails to mask the emptiness at its core." Claudia Puig is on the same page in USA Today, noting "the script is missing much of the complexity and some of the humanity of the composer, one of the greats of the 20th century."

But various outlets have been busily filling that void, offering profiles of the songwriter that go deeper than the film. The best, not surprisingly, was John Lahr's in the New Yorker; he described the singer's deep sadness, conflicted sexual life, and how "at a time when prosperity was imperiled, Porter—with his valets, his sixteen dressing gowns, his Art Deco Paris house, with zebra rugs on marble floors, his Venetian palace, where he composed in a ballroom hung with Tiepolos—personified the myth of American abundance."

Meanwhile, Kevin McKeough provides the Chicago Tribune with a rundown on modern pop stars who carry the Porter torch. One is Rufus Wainwright, who, "like Porter…tempers his sense of longing and alienation with the arch wit and double-edged wordplay." Stephen Merritt of Magnetic Fields is not enamored of Porter, arguing that "Ira Gershwin was funnier, Irving Berlin is a better melodist, and Lawrence Hart is more emotionally important." 

Elton, if you're still looking for American singers to criticize, here's somewhere to start: First of all, Hart was in no way more "emotionally important" than Porter; secondly, his first name was Lorenz.

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