posted June 22, 2006 01:59 PM            

Their music isn't being played on country/western stations.

They have had to cancel several concerts on the tour they planned for America because of poor ticket sales but they keep those big fat mouths going.

Now, they question patriotism. Of course, they're in good company with all the other "accidential Americans".

Dumb Clucks
How to sound stupid about patriotism.
By Myrna Blyth

Oops, she’s done it again. Natalie Maines, the pudgy, pug-faced, pugnacious Dixie Chick, just can’t seem to keep her Jimmy Choos out of her mouth — at least, not when she’s talking to someone with a British accent. Last week, the Daily Telegraph’s Adam Sweeting got together with Maines, joined by Emily Robison and Martie Maguire, the other members of the trio, to discuss their recent falling out with the world of country music. They talked over a lunch of asparagus tempura and tuna sashimi or salmon teriyaki with organic greens. As Sweeting remarked, “The Chicks have traditionally been branded a country band, but clearly it's some time since their diet consisted of ribs, tacos and pancakes.” Shoot, I remember when the trio’s primary goal was not discussing the pros and cons of America’s foreign policy with Diane Sawyer but scoring a cover on Redbook.

At lunch Maguire whined about how poor Natalie — superstar as victim — was mistreated after she apologized to a British audience at a concert for being from the same state as President Bush. It was in the days leading up to the start of the war in Iraq. The aftermath of Maines’s remark “was like the McCarthy days, and it was almost like the country was unrecognizable,” Maguire declared, without a touch of irony.

Then Robison jumped in to diss any singer who was supportive of our country at the time. According to her, all they were doing was “cashing in on being against what we said or what we stood for because that was promoting their career.” In other words, only self-absorbed, liberal, America-hating celebrities can be sincere. Robison continued, “You’d see soldiers and American flags in every video. It became a sickening display of ultra patriotism.”

That really got the mouthy Maines going. Through “gritted teeth” she declared, “The entire country may disagree with me but I don’t understand the necessity for patriotism. Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country…I don’t see why people care about patriotism.”

How can we take seriously a singer who doesn’t seem to be so smart about music history, let alone American history? Maines apparently isn’t aware that the lyric “this land is my land, this land is your land” was written by Woody Guthrie, also a critic of our country, but one who not only talked the talk but truly walked the long painful walk across Depression-era America.

What is really upsetting — and what these three may share with too many others today — is their tone deafness when it comes to realizing the enormous opportunities that being an America has given them. Rather, they sulk and complain, and feel oh-so-badly-done-by. Maines seems to think that living in a place she likes and having a life she likes is her right, and is completely unrelated to our country’s past, our system of government, and the sacrifices others have made (and continue to make today) for her well-being.

For the past year, I have been working on a book about the patriotism gap felt by too many these days, and most often expressed by loud-mouthed celebrities, high in the pecking order. Their opinions are fodder for the 24/7 news cycle that in itself constantly emphasizes the negative about our leaders, our troops, and our institutions. Maines take on patriotism is she deserves all the benefits of being American, but can’t understand why she needs to show any loyalty to her country at all.

Of course, one could dismiss her as an ill-informed dumb cluck who unfortunately made the wrong left turn. The reviews of the controversy-seeking Chicks’ recent performances in London have been far from enthusiastic. Last week they gave a concert at the same venue, Sherpherd’s Bush, where Natalie had made her anti-Bush remark. (The T-shirts on sale were printed with the slogan “The only Bush we trust is Shepherd’s Bush.”) Victims again, they complained to their British fans about their new album not being played on American country music stations. But several of the reviewers commented that the once cheerful Chicks looked tired and glum, and one noted they “wear their broken hearts like…bleeding, open sores.” Very entertaining. I guess they may be beginning to learn that when you take the girls out of the country and the country out of the girls, you are left with not very much.

posted June 22, 2006 02:20 PM            

That quote is sad but true. It seems that many on the Left (and we have seen that in full practive here at LL) feel it's the new fashion to hate our own Country. Forgotten is the long path that brought us to where we are. Nevermind the people, hundreds and thousands of people that have died defending this Country, our values and our freedom- they want yell at the top of their shrill lungs "America is horrible- how can we kill innocent terrorists?"

posted June 22, 2006 02:36 PM              

Since when does anyone have to agree with war to be a patriot?

****** idiots.

posted June 22, 2006 02:48 PM            

Now, if you just had any talent, you'd fit right in with the brain dead morons in the Hollywood set. If you could sing, you could form the 2 Braincell Trio.

Too bad, without that star status, no one pays a bit of attention to your blathering.

That's right, Maines is an idiot. After her first idiotic statement, she was so unpopular she couldn't get mugged. Now, she's shooting her mouth off again.

Of course, she's a hero to the unpatriots...like TP and the other America haters.

Welcome back to the USA lotus.

posted June 22, 2006 06:43 PM              

********

Dixie Chicks' 'Long Way' Nests In At No. 1
The Dixie Chicks
May 31, 2006, 10:55 AM ET
Katie Hasty, N.Y.
For the third time in their career, the Dixie Chicks roost on the top of The Billboard 200. The Columbia album "Taking the Long Way" tallied 526,000 copies in its first week of U.S. sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the trio's best-selling week since 2002's "Home" debuted with 780,000.

posted June 22, 2006 06:52 PM            

LOS ANGELES -- Country music trio the Dixie Chicks , still taking heat for criticizing President Bush, are weathering sluggish ticket sales in several cities for their upcoming U.S. tour, industry watchers reported Thursday.

While early ticket purchases for their first major tour in three years are generally robust in Northeastern cities, initial sales have fallen short of expectations in numerous markets, especially in the Midwest and South, forcing some dates to be scrubbed.

By contrast, the group's latest album, "Taking the Long Way," opened atop the U.S. pop charts last week, selling 526,000 copies during its first seven days and remaining No. 1 in its second week to notch one of the year's strongest debuts.

But with many country music stations denying the Chicks airplay, box office business is off to a slow start in places where the group has sold out in the past, said Gary Bongiovanni, editor of concert industry magazine Pollstar.

According to Pollstar, dates in Memphis, Tennessee, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, and Fresno, California, have been dropped from the tour schedule for now, while box-office sales also were canceled for Houston.

Billboard magazine reported that ticket counts for shows that went on sale last weekend were averaging 5,000 to 6,000 seats per date in major markets, and less in secondary locales. Arena capacities on the tour generally top 15,000.

"Basically, they're having to rethink the entire tour at this point," Bongiovanni told Reuters. "Clearly their problems seem to be strongest in the red states," he said, referring to those areas carried by Bush in the 2004 presidential election.

BACKLASH FOR ANTI-BUSH REMARKS

A key factor in tepid sales was the continuing backlash against the Dixie Chicks by many country music stations over the anti-Bush remarks of lead singer Natalie Maines in 2003.

Publicists for the band declined to comment, as did officials for AEG, one of the companies promoting the tour.

Maines sparked an uproar when she declared during a London concert in March 2003 that the band was embarrassed to come from the same state - Texas - as the president. She fanned flames anew by retracting an earlier apology for "disrespecting the office of the president," telling Time magazine in a recent interview: "I don't feel that way anymore. I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever."

"Country radio in many places has really closed the door on this group," Bongiovanni said, adding that some stations have not only refused to play the Chicks ' music, they have refused advertisements for their tour as well.

Still, ticket sales were strong in cities such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Toronto, where a second October show was added to the schedule after the first concert quickly sold out, he said.

Further complicating the Chicks ' commercial outlook has been their recent transformation as a band, Bongiovanni said.

"They've moved away from being a purely country group, so their audience is changing," he said.

posted June 22, 2006 10:21 PM              

Of course it's gonna make up lies.

posted June 22, 2006 10:48 PM            

How careless of me.

But how braindead of a certain Swamp Gas Gal not to have noticed, that instead of ripping NewsMax, she was ripping Reuters.

posted July 04, 2006 10:53 PM            

quote:

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i'm confused. did someone say that we should be proud to be Americans because hundreds of thousands of people have died protecting our rights?

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I think you must be confused...or simply attempting to set up a straw argument you can knock down.