Text 5167, 81 rader
Skriven 2004-11-18 20:37:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Linda
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I love watching the left in a panic.  It tells me we are doing things 
right...

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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=680&u=/usatoday/20041117/en_us
atoday/lindaronstadthumminanoutragedtune&printer=1


Linda Ronstadt, hummin' an outraged tune

Wed Nov 17, 6:41 AM ET 

By Elysa Gardner, USA TODAY 

Linda Ronstadt (news) has been many things to many people: a rock 'n' 
roll pinup girl, a rootsy balladeer, a traditional pop crooner and, 
recently, a vocal Michael Moore supporter.


Today, as she sits in a cluttered Midtown hotel room, the 58-year-old 
has assumed the less glamorous role of working mom. But as her adopted 
son, Carlos, 10, digs into lunch, Ronstadt, who just released Hummin' to 
Myself - her first collection of pop standards since a successful trio 
of albums with arranger Nelson Riddle in the '80s - is persuaded to 
discuss music and politics, though not necessarily in that order.


Don't get her started on the recent presidential election. "People don't 
realize that by voting Republican, they voted against themselves," she 
says. Of Iraq (news - web sites) in particular, she adds, "I worry that 
some people are entertained by the idea of this war. They don't know 
anything about the Iraqis, but they're angry and frustrated in their own 
lives. It's like Germany, before Hitler took over. The economy was bad 
and people felt kicked around. They looked for a scapegoat. Now we've 
got a new bunch of Hitlers."


More temperate remarks got Ronstadt into hot water in June, when while 
performing at the Aladdin Casino and Resort in Las Vegas, she dedicated 
an encore of Desperado to Michael Moore, controversial director of the 
anti-Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. Ronstadt had cited Moore at many 
previous concerts without any problems, she says, and she learned of 
unrest at the Aladdin after hearing TV reports that concertgoers had 
thrown drinks and ripped down posters. 


"No one threw drinks or anything in the concert hall," Ronstadt says. "I 
don't know what people did in the lobby, but if they behaved like 
naughty schoolboys, that's not my fault. I doubt it was the first time 
they had drunk people in Vegas, you know?" 


Though she has no regrets about the incident - "It made me look rather 
good, I think" - Ronstadt predictably speaks with more enthusiasm of 
Hummin'. The album picks up from her last collaboration with the late 
Riddle. She isn't surprised that stars such as Rod Stewart (news) and 
Norah Jones (news) have since turned to re-interpreting classics: "These 
songs are the finest aspect of American pop culture of the 20th 
century."


Carlos and his 13-year-old sister, Mary, whom Ronstadt also adopted, 
have turned their mom on to newer sounds as well. "My little boy likes 
Eminem (news - web sites), and there's a compelling musicianship and 
pathos there. My daughter got me into Pink, who is such a talented 
songwriter and can really play blues." 


In fact, where her political views are concerned, the singer feels more 
accurately perceived as a concerned mother than an artist on a soapbox.


"I have very little power," she insists. "I've been blessed with an 
unusually long career, but the peak was in the '70s and '80s. I think 
you just have to carry on - and do what you can to get information out 
to people. Do what you can."


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