Dixie Chicks’ Natalie Maines Recycles Her Most Infamous Quote

I remember, thirteen years ago, the kerfuffle that started when the Dixie Chicks, well, at least lead Chicks singer, Natalie Maines, while performing in England, said this onstage about the impending Iraq war:

“Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.”

And a great deal of America, conservative, backwoods, redneck, Republican America, went apesh*t. How dare she say a derogatory thing about the President, especially President W who was sent from Heaven to save us from the infidels in Iraq or Iran or Afghanistan or Pakistan, or wherever there was oil terrorists out to harm us?

People couldn’t believe that Natalie Maines had exercised her right to Free Speech; to speak out against a war she thought was all kinds of wrong; people couldn’t believe she had an opinion!

And the Dixie Chicks suffered for what Natalie Maines said; country radio stopped playing their songs; fellow country artists spoke out publicly against the group; deals were lost, concerts were cancelled; parents told their children to say nasty things about the girls.

Don’t believe that last part? Take a moment and watch the documentary, “Shut Up and Sing.” See the hate spewed from the mouths of children, who are just repeating what their illiterate parents told them.

But this isn’t really about that … it’s about Natalie Maines being at it again, and dusting off that old quote for a new target, Ted Cruz:

And she chose the perfect quotes, the first being from General,  and former President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who knew the dangers of war, because he lived through them; the second was from Ted Cruz, a Canadian born warmonger who never served in battle anywhere, and cannot wait to murder the enemy. But then she thought better of her original Tweet, and did a quick edit job on it, to mock Ted Cruz of Canada:

Good for Natalie; thanks for speaking up. We need more of that around here.

Oh, and if you still think she deserved what she got for simply saying she was ashamed to be from the same state as George W. Bush, how did you feel when Ted Nugent said Obama should be hanged? Was that okay?

Feeling shame over being from the same state as a liar and war monger is quite different from suggesting the President be murdered. But Ted Nugent wasn’t ridiculed and didn’t have his life threatened; he was invited to attend the President’s State of the Union speech.

I guess Free Speech is only good when the Republicans like what you’re saying.

Addicting Info

Michelle Shocks ..... And Loses Gigs For Her Hate Speech

By now I suppose you’ve all heard, or read, about Michelle Shocked’s anti-LGBT rant from the stage at Yoshi's in the Fillmore over the weekend.

When Shocked took the stage she said something about an "invisible man" on the stage and that she needed an avatar. She encouraged the audience to tweet her comments and song requests, and audience member Matt Penfield joined her on stage to follow Shocked’s tweets as she sang.

Her first set was nothing out of the ordinary, though at one point she stopped to read some of the tweets herself. In response to a request for a gospel song, she said, "I love me some Jesus," and in the middle of another song, she made a political statement an Occupy issue;  Shocked was arrested in 2011 in an Occupy LA protest.  At intermission she Tweeted: "Truth is leading to painful confrontation."

During the second set Shocked told the crowd that she was "all about reality" and then began the rant heard round the world. She said she was tired of Christians hiding behind the cross, then said, "When they stop Prop 8 and force priests at gunpoint to marry gays, it will be the downfall of civilization and Jesus will come back."

Many in the crowd, most of them San Franciscans, walked out. One woman shouted: "Don't say that shit in San Francisco."

Shocked replied, "Where do I go to say it?"

Then Shocked offered a prayer in Spanish: "God loves you. God loves us. God loves us all everywhere." When people in the crowd asked what she was saying, Shocked, with a huge grin, said, "You are going to leave here and tell people 'Michelle Shocked said God hates faggots.'"

With two-thirds of the audience gone by this point, a Yoshi's manager announced, "Thank you for coming ladies and gentlemen. This show is over."

"It's not over," Shocked said; she continued to sing until management cut off her microphone and shut off the stage lights.

Now, some fans say Shocked was merely being misinterpreted, and that her comments were related to hypocrisy regarding anti-LGBT folks, but Shocked has yet to respond, and,/or apologize for what she said.

Penfield, who served as Shocked's 'invisible man', and walked off the stage during her rant, said "She said hateful things about gays and she was aggressively promoting a religious agenda I disagree with."

After the performance Shocked was talking with three fans when the Bay Area Reporter asked her to clarify her comments. When one of the three fans told Shocked the B.A.R. was a “gay paper" Shocked said, "God bless us everyone" and left.

A venue in Chicago, SPACE, had a Shocked show scheduled, but cancelled the show after learning of her on stage anti-LGBT rant. Blogger John M. Becker, who posted about Shocked’s performance [HERE], created a Change.org petition [HERE] asking other venues to follow SPACE’s example and cancel Shocked’s upcoming dates. And it seems to be working; according to Shocked’s own website, on Monday she had eleven upcoming concert performances, and now there are just two.

Look, here’s how this works: entertain me. Sing the songs I want to here. Have a political viewpoint. Share it with me. But Shocked wasn’t using the power of Free Speech, she was using Hate Speech, in San Francisco of all places, and, well, I don’t know if people should pay to see a musician perform, only to be subjected to her anti-LGBT rants.

She has a right to her opinion, and, as we say in the South, God Bless her, but don’t ask me to pay to hear you spew hate when all I wanted was to hear a few songs.

Check out John M. Becker’s blog for a list of the venues that have said No to Shocked. It’s nice to see people, and businesses, rally together to stifle Hate Speech. In fact, one venue, the Alberta Rose Theatre in Portland, not only cancelled Shocked’s upcoming performance, but are replacing it with a benefit concert for Basic Rights Oregon.

I’d much rather see that show.

The Bay Area Reporter
John M. Becker
The Change.org Petition

Musical Interlude: Bonnie Raitt

I have always been a huge Bonnie Raitt fan. She just does it, without flash or fanfare. And here she's done it again, singing Gerry Rafferty's "Right Down The Line" from her new album, "Slipstream".
The video was filmed on location at the abandoned New Mission Theater in San Francisco, and features couples, young, old, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, gay and straight from the Noe Valley neighborhood.
It's about love. And equality.
And it's pure Bonnie.

Welcome Out, Will Sheridan

Will Sheridan was a basketball star at Villanova.

He's also a musician, with a video--"Welcome to the Jungle"--that has gone mini-viral on YouTube.

And he's gay.

This week, Will Sheridan has chosen to follow CEO of the Phoenix Suns, Rick Welts and CNN's Don lemon out of the closet. Will made his announcement during an interview on ESPN, saying: “I'm kind of over it. Everyone close to me knows. Everyone who matters to me knows. I'm at a point where someone else can learn from my experience.”

And maybe a couple of those who can learn something about Will Sheridan, are his parents. His mother, Josie, says, "Devastated. I was devastated. I mean, I was disappointed. Not in him, but in things that were taken away – not having a daughter-in-law, grandchildren, things like that.”

Josie, maybe one day you'll have a son-in-law, and you can also have grandchildren. And she does say that she's proud of Will: “I've always been so proud of him, but he has such courage. This takes courage.”

Will Sr., a religious man, however, did not speak to his son for over a year. “I don't use the word 'tolerate.' I 'appreciate.' I appreciate that this is who he is, and I believe this is who God wants him to be. [But] I treat him like he ain't [gay]. I believe one day he's going to change. He says he's not, but I believe he will. A man has to have some kind of belief and hope.”

Will Sheridan has changed. He's become open to himself, accepting of himself, understanding of himself.

He doesn't need to change. Society and his father need to change.

And they will. They will.

Welcome out, Will. Your Coming Out Toaster Oven and copy of The Gay Agenda should arrive any day now.

source

It's Only Rock'n'Roll But MAN OH MAN How It Ages Some Of You

So, who's looking good? Who's looking bad? Who's into nip/tuck? Who's aging gracefully?

Bono

Eddie Van Halen

Iggy Pop

Jon Bon Jovi

Johnny Rotten

Annie Lennox

Patti Smith

David Lee Roth

Steven Tyler

Sting

Pat Benatar

Debbie Harry

Grace Slick

Mick Jagger

Joan Jett

Keith Richards

Tom Petty

Steve Perry

Stevie Nicks

Ted Nugent

LGBT History month: Billy Strayhorn

He was openly gay, unapologetically gay, at a time when most gay men and women met in secret, in back alleys, out of sight, for fear of arrest or worse. William Thomas "Billy" Strayhorn was a composer, pianist and arranger, best known for his works with Duke Ellington, early in his career, and Lena Horne, late in his life. Billy Strayhorn's compositions include "Take the 'A' Train" and "Lush Life."

He was born in Ohio, grew up some in Pennsylvania, but lived most of his life with his grandmother in North Carolina; Billy's mother sent him there to save him from his father's drunken beatings. That move proved lucky for Billy; it was while in North Carolina that he discovered his love for music.

As a teenager, Strayhorn returned to Pittsburgh, and attended Westinghouse High School; it was in Pittsburgh where he began his musical career, studying classical music at the Pittsburgh Music Institute, writing a high school musical, forming a musical trio that played daily on a local radio station, and, while still in his teens, writing both the music and lyrics for songs like "Life Is Lonely," which later became "Lush Life," "My Little Brown Book" and "Something To Live For." He worked odd jobs, saving enough money to buy his first piano, and by age nineteen, Billy Strayhorn had written his first musical, Fantastic Rhythm.

While classical music was his first love, Billy's desire to become a classical composer was not to be; in those days, the world of classical music was an all-white world into which Billy Strayhorn could not gain entrance. Disillusioned, but not done, he took to working with jazz artists like Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson; he'd found a home in the world of jazz music and he would live there, and thrive there, for the rest of his life.

In 1938, at twenty-three, Billy met Duke Ellington. In typical Billy style, he showed the Duke how he would have arranged some of Ellington's best known works. Rather than being insulted, Ellington was impressed enough to invite other band members to hear Strayhorn. At the end of the visit he arranged for Billy to meet him when the band returned to New York. Billy Strayhorn would work for Duke Ellington for the next twenty-five years, leaving the Duke to call him, "my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine".

Billy Strayhorn, already a gifted composer and arranger, flourished in Ellington's shadow; the Duke became somewhat of a father figure to a young man who'd often been sent from home to keep him safe from his own parent. And Duke Ellington used Billy Strayhorn to complete his thoughts, while giving the young man freedom to write on his own and enjoy at least some of the credit he deserved. Duke Ellington would often announce from the stage, "Strayhorn does a lot of the work but I get to take the bows!"

Billy Strayhorn composed the band's best known theme, "Take the "A" Train", and a number of other pieces that became part of the Duke Ellington orchestra songbook. In some instances, Billy was credited solely with writing such pieces as "Lotus Blossom", "Chelsea Bridge", and "Rain Check", while others--"Day Dream" and "Something to Live For"--were called collaborations with Ellington. "Satin Doll" and "Sugar Hill Penthouse" were credited to Ellington alone.

In 1939, shortly before leaving on his second European tour, Ellington announced to his family and the band that Strayhorn would be staying with them. And it was through the Duke's brother, Mercer, that Billy met his first partner, musician Aaron Bridgers, with whom he lived until Bridgers moved to Paris in 1947.

Billy Strayhorn was openly gay during an extremely homophobic era. He was who he was, a gifted musician, composer, arranger, and gay man; he made no apologies and refused to hide his life and loves from anyone. Still, there is some speculation that, like Bayard Rustin and his civil rights work, Billy Strayhorn is often overlooked and discredited because he was a gay man. Most people spoke of his being black and gay than they did of his musical prowess, and it was because of this, perhaps, that Strayhorn quietly hid behind Duke Ellington, letting the Duke take credit for much of his work.

In the 1950s, Strayhorn left his musical partner Duke Ellington for a few years to pursue a solo career; he recorded several solo albums. wrote a few revues for the Copasetics--a New York show-business society--and took on theater productions with his friend Luther Henderson.
In the 60s, Billy Strayhorn participated in many civil rights causes, and, as a committed friend to Martin Luther King, Jr., he arranged and conducted "King Fought the Battle of 'Bam'" for the Ellington Orchestra in 1963. It was used in the historical revue My People, which was dedicated to Dr. King.

Not only with Ellington and King, but with many others, did Strayhorn make an impact. He was a major influence in Lena Horne's career; in fact, she wanted to marry him, and often called him the love of her life.

Billy Strayhorn was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 1964, and, in 1967, died in the company of his partner Bill Grove; it was erroneously reported--perhaps to take the light off his homosexuality--that he had died in Lena Horne's arms, but, by her own accounts, Horne was touring in Europe when Billy Strayhorn passed.

And even while dying, Billy worked. In the hospital he submitted his final composition to longtime mentor and musical partner Duke Ellington, "Blood Count." Ellington used the piece as the first track on a memorial album, "...And His Mother Called Him Bill," dedicated to Billy Strayhorn. The last track is a spontaneous solo version of "Lotus Blossom" performed by Ellington, sitting at a piano and playing for his friend.

Billy Strayhorn was told 'No' an awful lot in his life. he was told 'No' when he asked if he could come home if his father would behave. He was told 'No,' because of his skin color, when he wanted to ebacome a classical musician. He was denied a proper place in the history of jazz music for many years because he was an openly gay man.

But Billy never lived in 'No.' Billy lived a Lush Life and was quite proud of it. So, here's one of my favorites, Nat King Cole, singing Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life."

The march goes on.

On This Day In LGBT History
October 28, 1903 – British writer Evelyn Waugh is born in London. The writer of “Brideshead Revisited” kept diaries of his affairs.
October 28, 1970 – Author Kate Millet came out.
October 28, 1987 – The Human Rights Campaign Fund began running ads in response to an amendment introduced in the Senate by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) and passed by the house and senate to restrict funding to AIDS organizations which distributed gay-related prevention literature.
October 28, 1987- At the University of Vermont in Burlington nineteen people were arrested in a demonstration protesting the CIA’s exclusion of gays and lesbians.
October 28, 1990 – During a campaign speech, US Congressman Jesse Helms referred to gays and lesbians as “disgusting people marching in the streets demanding all sorts of things, including the right to marry each other.”
October 28, 1990 – Placido Domingo and Andre Watts raise $1.5 million at a fundraiser for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis.
October 28, 1992 – Episcopal bishop A. Theodore Eastman issued an order to clergy in Maryland not to bless same-sex unions.October 28, 1992 – The lesbian comic book “Hothead Paisan #7″ was seized from Toronto Women’s Bookstore. Officials sited “sexual degradation” as the reason for the seizure, though it contained no sex. The prohibition would be lifted seven months later.
October 28, 1997 – The National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum condemned gospel singers Angie and Debbie Winans for their anti-gay song “It’s Not Natural” and BET-TV for providing them with a one-sided forum to promote their homophobic views. Earlier in the year, BET-TV refused to air MeShell NdegeOcello’s video “Leviticus Faggot,” about a black gay teenager’s struggle to come to terms with his sexuality.
October 28, 1998 – Welsh secretary Ron Davies resigned after British tabloids reported he was robbed at knifepoint in a London park while looking for a male sexual companion.
October 28, 1998 – Glen Murray, an out gay man, was elected mayor of Winnipeg, Manitoba.