Pretty Eloquent Yourself, Sir Mark. Life is waay too short to belittle others because they don't share the same tastes or politics.

One phrase keeps coming to mind, "you catch more bees with honey".

Mark, very well done and good points made. In fact, great points made. The devaluation of people... I am sure I have heard that phrase before but it really cut through today for whatever reason. That is exactly what seems to go on. hell, I could pick up that ball and run with it for 1,000 words or more of my own. Here are just a few of them:

EO and I have talked on BCRadio about rediscovering one's humanity. I think part of the reason it is so easy to devalue a person who is a celebrity is because there seems to be such a gulf between "us" and "them" and dismissing them seems like nothing. We're dismissing a caricature, an image. It is good to remember that behind that image and caricature is a real person.

I think reasonable people would all agree the death threat(s) the DC received are vile and way the hell over the line. I don't have any patience for that at all.

I think the accusations of "whining" stem less from the death threat and more from a story I remember closer to the time of the incident. I remember Maines complaining more country stars didn't come to her/their defense. That annoyed me a little bit. When you put yourself out there and speak from your heart you are taking a risk. A songwriter ought to know that. There is a reason our political campaigns are so well scripted. Our "leaders" are well practiced in the art of saying nothing. When you put yourself out there, be it in politics or art or here on Blogcritics, you risk facing some kind of rejection. I appreciate your kind words about my piece this week. Go look at the first comment on it. Some guy intimated that I am a moron and called it "100% bullshit." I tried to be fair and honest and some of the reaction I got was not real nice. I could have played it safe and kept my mouth shut. The other side is got some very thoughtful reaction to that piece- not just from people who agreed with me. And that is what I think bothered me about the quotations attributed to Maines post incident. She seemed to me to be offended by the lack of unanimous agreement with her statement.

And the line from the song you mention --- the one about "how can the lines I write...?" --- she's been onstage in front of 1000's of people and from that stage she can do all sorts of things and get the people in the audience to follow. Hell, there is a reason she said what she said from the stage. It's a powerful platform. She's used that platform to spread her music and enrich herself. How can she not understand that? How many love letters have they gotten from fans who thought she was "looking right at them" or writing songs "just about them." The process of writing songs and performing- the cosmic feeling that electrifies an audience- amazing acts of good and evil and all things in between have happened as a result of that. If she didn't think she had any "power" she wouldn't have said what she said at the outset.

Maybe I should have written a piece and fleshed a few of these things out. Or not. I don't know. All of that said, I think this was a great FML and you said things that made me think.

I still don't like their music, though.

Too bad you couldn't get the rest of the world to see it this way, Mr. Saleski. I salute you for your tolerance, and hope that someone reading your message turns their personal rhethoric down a notch or two.

It's hard to turn down one's personal rhetoric when one is angry. Corruption is nothing new in politics, of course, but what makes so many moderates and lefties mad right now is new-fashioned policy, not old-fashioned corruption. When our leaders are taking us in a direction that is diametrically opposed to everything we hold to be sensible and right, it's hard to stay frosty.

Mr. Saleski,

You are not stupid for loving this album. It is by far one of the best records of the year. While I didn't agree with Maines' initial comments, I think the hoopla that immediately followed was a disgrace.

Mark, that was beautifully put. I'm not even a DC fan but I read this knowing that you'd have something eloquent to say about them, and you delivered as usual.

It's refreshing to see such an honest and well written article on the Dixie Chicks. I bought Taking The Long Way as a protest and was prepared to listen to it once and put it away. Boy, was I surprised to find it filled with compelling songs sung beautifully and performed by accomplished professional musicians. There are no two better female musicians in the entire industry than Martie McGuire and Emily Robison. As a non-country fan, they enthrall me with that banjo and fiddle.

I then went out and got the rest of their albums. They had some good songs in the past but the new one is definitely their best. I haven't heard their live album yet, it's in the mail now, but I think it's a pretty safe bet it will be fantastic. The band sounds even better live. Their cover of Dylan's Mississippi and Patty Griffin's Truth #2 will be worth the price of admission alone.

Thank you! Wish you had some influnence on Country Music because this album could very definatley be in the running for album of the year!

Hopefully the Chicks will get there due through their pockets!

Don't forget KARMA ...Country Music Radio:)

God Bless these Strong and Courageous Girls.

Well done, Mark. I dunno what got into Al Barger, except that he hates the Dixie Chicks with a blind rage that won't let him see a thoughtful reflective essay for what it is.

You know... I don't really care what entertainers think. I really don't, my values are set, I have a philosphy of life, I'm pretty able (mentally). I don't really care to pay for a ticket and get a political lecture. I just want to be entertained, darn it. I went to a Steve Earle concert once, and got a 20 minute diatribe, which to be perfectly honest, sent me straight to his management company in search of some ticket compensation (which was denied, of course).

I pay the price of a ticket to see entertainment. Now, Dylan or some other noteworthy protest artist... I would expect that. But the chix? I would have been miffed. Not that they were wrong or right... but my money didn't just go into their kitty to hear anything but their music.

Streisand is not excluded in that. Play, act... whatever. I can formulate my own opinions and I am also able to reason. Pay you to force feed me your ideals (on my dime). Thank you very much, but no. Please.

Great piece Mark.

I haven't really discovered the Dixie Chicks yet, although I do like their cover of Dylan's "Missisippi" a lot. What I truly don't understand is when we got to this place where artists are condemned for basically doing what good art always should do. And that is speak for the artist.

The same thing is going on right now with Neil Young's Living With War album as I am sure you are well aware. Theres a whole contingent of folks ready to ship Neil off to Canada for having the audicity to make a protest record critical of the Bush administration's policies in Iraq.

Again, what gets me here is that freedom of speech is one of the very most fundamental rights our soldiers fight and die to protect. Artists like Natalie, Neil, Springsteen, and everybody from Seeger to Dylan before them, are simply exercising that right. What they do is as "American" as it gets.

That said, I've read Al Barger's various diatribes about the Chicks and I actually find them very amusing. If you approach it as humor, I think you'd find it hard not to agree that Mr. Barger is a very funny man.

-Glen

I love "Mississippi." Didn't like Sheryl Crow's version. Don't like the DCs so I can't imagine I'd like theirs but I do want to hear it to know for sure.

They do a really nice job with "Missisippi" DJ. But it's a great song to begin with so screwing it up would kinda be like a fast food joint screwing up a burger ya know?

I haven't really gotten the Chicks either otherwise. But I totally stand behind their right to speak their hearts and minds through their music.

-Glen

"It's a sad sad story when a mother will teach her Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger."

Natalie Maines has expressed this perfectly. It's a pity she hadn't come to that realization when she was promoting irrational hatred of Bush last year.

Dave

That must've been a boring drive into work...
Motley Crue - Not Metal
Dixie Chicks - Not Good

I do think it's almost a correlation between how the Dixie Chicks talk and how they do their own job. I mean you can stand up there until your blue in the face talking about how ashamed you are of your own President and that's fine. I mean, I would probably get a little pissed,oh well. Can the Dixie Chicks do a better job at running the country? In my opinion, they have a hard time writing decent music. So, I guess I must be one of the stupid ones because all I do is remember 9/11 when people say Bush lied. Guess what? He may have, but who doesn't and I would rather it be them than us.
Well, that's my opinion

I look forward to each new treatise in "The Gospel of What is and What is Not Metal According to Guppus."

Great piece indeed! You're absolutely correct Mark, whilst I care not for their music, I say let them speak about whatever they want.

I'm with Joey #11. The DC (and any other artist) have every right to have whatever opinions they want to, and to express them. Equally, I have a right not to pay to listen to those opinions. If I'm paying money to be entertained, that's all I want, period. Politics and discussion I can get here and elsewhere for free.

Celebrity as an artist does not confer great insight into anything other than the artist's particular craft, but American celebs (of both right and left) seem to think their opinions are somehow more compelling and should be shared with the rest of us. Bull.

DJR - Ya know it... I will go & tell it how it is(And it doesn't have to be on a mountain either)I am happy to have you as a follower*Smirk*.

Another great FML, Sir Saleski. Amazing how caloused we can become. It may be true that many people receive death threats, but I can't imagine why anyone at anytime would consider them funny or that it's whining to speak out against them.

Joey and Clavos: I go to concerts to be entertained, as well, but I also recognize that the role of the songwriter is more than that. In the folk tradition, writing about life from your own perspective or the perspective of others is perfectly acceptable, as well as including hot topics like politics. I wouldn't expect this at a heavy metal concert, but at a folk/singer/songwriter/whatever show, I'd be surprised if it was all entertainment without substance. The Chicks are moving more towards pop, but in my book, they still fall squarely in the folk songwriter tradition.

Dave: Maybe I missed it, but I don't recall Maines ever expressing an irrational hatred of Bush. Saying you don't like someone isn't irrational hatred. In any case, if she'd threatened him in the way some folks have threatened her, she'd be incarcerated right now.