By Jerry Fink
LAS VEGAS SUN
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.
How much weight that carries is
debatable, since the bankrupt Aladdin is in the process of being sold to a
group headed by Planet Hollywood International Inc. Chairman and Chief
Executive Robert Earl.
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.
"Whether you are politically
on the left or on the right is not the point. She went up in front of the stage
and just let it out. This was not the correct forum for that."
Timmins said she was wrong to bring
her politics to the stage.
"Our first and only priority
is the enjoyment of our customers," he said. "I made the decision to
ask Miss Ronstadt to leave the hotel. A situation like that can easily turn
ugly and I didn't want anything more to come out of it. There were a lot of
angry people there after she started talking.
"If she wants to talk about
her views to a newspaper or in a magazine article, she is free to do so. But in
a stage in front of four and a half thousand people is not the place for
it."
Squyres said half the audience
walked out, an estimate that might have been high. But the number was
substantial, nevertheless.
"The hotel's policy is that we
hired her to entertain guests, not to express her political views,"
Squyres said.
According to Squyres, the
58-year-old singer did not create a scene as she was escorted out of the hotel
and to her tour bus.
"She wasn't happy, but she was
cooperative," Squyres said.
Attempts to reach Ronstadt and her
manager were unsuccessful Sunday and this morning.
Squyres said a number of ticket
holders had asked for their money back after an article appeared in a local
newspaper last week quoting her making disparaging remarks about Las Vegas.
"She said Vegas isn't the best
place to perform anyway," Squyres said.
Other fans asked for their money
back shortly after the Saturday night show got underway, when Ronstadt informed
the audience that ads publicizing the concert were incorrect. The
advertisements called it her "Greatest Hits Tour."
Ronstadt started the evening with
her 1983 hit "What's New?" and then set her fans straight about what
they might expect during the concert.
"In case you are wondering
what I'm going to do," she said, "Driving into town I saw this big
billboard up there with my picture on it saying 'The Greatest Hits Tour.'
"That was news to us. We
didn't know it was 'The Greatest Hits Tour.' "
Squyres said Ronstadt was wrong.
"Her management gave us the
information and approved the ad," she said.
According to Squyres, Ronstadt
lopped off about 20 minutes from the show, walking away from an encore portion
of the concert, which I attended as the reviewer for the Sun.
The incident capped a generally
lackluster, unenthusiastic performance by one of the top singers of the '70s
and '80s.
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
opened the concert. The highlight of the 30-minute segment was a rendition of
George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," featuring pianist Terrance
Wilson.
Ronstadt began with several songs
from the 1920s, '30s and '40s she and arranger Nelson Riddle recorded, among
them "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," "Someone to Watch
Over Me" and "Straighten Up and Fly Right."
She performed Cole Porter's
"Get Out of Town," Frank Loesser's "Never Will I Marry" and
jazz great Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life."
And then she gave fans some of what
they came for, several of her hits from the '70s and '80s, including "Just
One Look" (1979), "Ooh Baby, Baby" (1978) and "Somewhere
Out There" (1987).
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.