Sadly, another washed-up entertainer from the 70s tries to lay claim to more relevance than Nostalgia Act, only to find that the crowd in Las Vegas (!) doesn't care. Hijinks ensue. Cries of "censorship" will surely follow.
Aladdin President Bill Timmins ordered security guards to escort pop diva Linda Ronstadt off the property following a concert Saturday night during which she expressed support for controversial documentary filmmaker Michael Moore.Timmins, who was among the almost 5,000 fans in the audience at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts, had Ronstadt escorted to her tour bus and her belongings from her hotel room sent to her. Timmins also sent word to Ronstadt that she was no longer welcome at the property for future performances, according Aladdin spokeswoman Tyri Squyres.
Near the close of her performance, Ronstadt dedicated the Eagles hit "Desperado" to Moore, producer of "Fahrenheit 9/11," and the room erupted into equal parts boos and cheers.
She said Moore "is someone who cares about this country deeply and is trying to help."
Ronstadt has been making the dedication at each of her engagements since she began a national tour earlier this summer, but it has never sparked such a reaction.
Hundreds of angry fans streamed from the theater as Ronstadt sang. Some of them reportedly defaced posters of her in the lobby, writing comments and tossing drinks on her pictures.
Timmins told Las Vegas Sun gossip columnist Timothy McDarrah: "We live in a city where people come from all over the world to be entertained. We hired Ms. Ronstadt as an entertainer, not as a political activist.
In Vegas, baby, it's all about business. To top it off, apparently the show wasn't so hot anyway.
Although she still has that powerful, distinctive voice, Ronstadt was merely going through the motions.The only song she had trouble with was "Blue Bayou." She stumbled over the lyrics, seemed to gasp for breath at one point and ended the song in Spanish, screaming the words rather than singing them.
Her performance was uninspired and generally flat. She lacked stage presence, doing little more than sleepwalk from song to song.
The fiasco at the end was the most exciting part of the show.
Lest we think it was an aberration on her part or the undoubtedly well-lubricated crowd, the audience reaction in Las Vegas was about the same at prestigious WolfTrap near Washington, D.C.
Many folks had left by the time she ended her main set with "Blue Bayou."Posted by Alan at July 19, 2004 05:12 PMThe biggest excitement of the night, by a long shot, came when Ronstadt then dedicated her encore of "Desperado" to filmmaker Michael Moore, kick-starting a boo-cheer competition throughout the venue that drowned out her singing and left grown-ups in tuxes and evening gowns yelling at each other on their way to the parking lot.