Any Linda Ronstadt fans here?

[RagingInMiami]

I always knew who she was, but I was never really familiar with her music. However, this weekend my mom asked me to burn a Ronstadt CD titled "Canciones de mi Padre", "My Father's Songs," in which she sings a bunch of old Mexican ballads in honor of her father, who was of Mexican and German descent.

The music is really authentic. Reminds me of Mexico, drinking a beer in an outdoor cantina as the woman on stage sings her heart out while the men listening to her drown their sorrows in their beer. With all this anti-Mexican talk in GD lately, it makes the music even more special. Despite what has been said about our neighbors south of the border, it's a beautiful culture.

So I started researching Ronstadt and it turns out she is a raging liberal.

Here is some info from Wikipedia:

Ronstadt caused some controversy among conservative Christian groups by telling the San Diego Union-Tribune in an interview published July 15, 2004: "It's a real conflict for me when I go to a concert and find out somebody in the audience is a Republican or fundamental Christian. It can cloud my enjoyment. I'd rather not know."


On July 18, 2004, during a performance at the Aladdin Casino in Las Vegas, Ronstadt praised Michael Moore and his documentary film Fahrenheit 9/11. It was reported that some members of the audience walked out, tore down posters, threw drinks, and demanded she be removed from the stage. Initial reports were that Aladdin president Bill Timmins escorted her out of the premises without having a chance to go to her hotel suite to obtain her property, and vowed that, as long as he was running the casino, she would no longer be welcome. At the same time, it was reported that the angry shouts and boos were overpowered by cheers and people clapping. However, Ronstadt says that the media reports were inaccurate. She was not aware of anyone throwing drinks, was not escorted off the premises, and it was not until later that she learned Aladdin's management was angry. "I didn't know they were mad at me until we were gone, and I didn't know what they were mad at me about until about an hour later, when apparently they called up one of the people that was traveling with us and went, 'She's talking about Michael Moore, and this is a place for entertainment, not politics'" Ronstadt said. Ronstadt had previously been quoted in the Las Vegas Review-Journal that she was not fond of playing in Vegas, and hoped that she would annoy them enough to not ask her back.

So I turned her Mexican music up even louder after reading that.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Ronstadt

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. She was in a relationship with Jerry Brown when he was governor

of California...or Governor Moonbeam as the righties called him

[HuskerDU]

2. I am a fan too!

Really only familiar with greatest hits type stuff, but that woman has a set of pipes! She could sing the phonebook and I would be mesmorized.

[Nicole]

3. Me!

I fell in love with her the first time I heard her sing "Silver Threads And Golden Needles " back in the 70's.

She was on the country & rock charts both back then.

[saltpoint]

4. Count me in. She's a great vocalist and a great Democrat, too.

Her recording of Warren Zevon's "Hasten Down the Wind" ranks very, very high on my lifetime best tunes list.

[Kali]

5. That is one of her best in my opinion

Local girl - many in the family are musical. Her brother is a puke, but he lost his last run (I am pretty sure).

Tucson native - the family used to have a hardware store downtown, I can remember getting well parts from them - my grandfather traded witht hem in the old days (isn't that a great old term too?) They used to serve most of southern Arizona and northern Chihuahua.

[Kali]

7. uh that was Sonora - my mind is in Chihuahua

:crazy:

[6000eliot]

6. I loved her music until she started doing standards

Why do rock singers insist on performing music that doesn't suit their voices?

[speedoo]

17. I disagree. I thought Lush Life was terrific.

What makes the standards great, IMO, is that lots of people can perform them well.

[begin_within]

8. She has a great vocal tone, rich and thick, and has applied it to many

musical genres. She did a superb cover of Little Feat's "All that You Dream" on her "Back in the USA" album. Her spanish albums, "Canciones De Mi Padre" etc. are also outstanding.

[Rabrrrrrr]

9. I like her work with Philip Glass.

I wish they would do more together.

Even though she's more known for her pop-ish crap, she really does have a magnificent voice and should spend more time doing the serious music God intended her voice for.

[Gatchaman]

10. Saw a clip of her in that Chuck Berry documentary last night

she's a cute little piece of tail! :)

[Xipe Totec]

11. I have all her Mexican Albums

Her accent is impeccable even though, as I understand, she does not speak Spanish.

Her politics makes her sound that much sweeter.

My favorite album is Frenesi, with songs from the golden age of romantic Mexican music.

It includes "Perfidia" (perfidy), which was used as background music in the movie Casa Blanca during the dance scene with Ingrid Bergman and Humprey Bogart. Although it was played instrumental in the movie, the lyrics are incredibly appropriate to the movie:

"Woman, if you can speak with God,
Ask if I ever stopped loving you

Ask the ocean
The mirror of my heart
About the times it has seen me cry
The faithlessness of your love

I have looked wherever I go
And I can't find you
Why seek your kisses if your lips
don't want to kiss me anymore

And you, who knows where you are
and what adventure awaits you
or how far you are from me"

[tishaLA]

12. I love Linda

You should hear the CD she did with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton, Trio (avoid Trio 2, though). She also did some other Spanish language CDs you might like (Mi Jardin Azul and Mas Canciones come to mind) and a trio of very good albums with the great arranger/conductor Nelson Riddle (What's New?, For Sentimental Reasons, and something else I forget). I think she also did some cajun music a few years ago....she's a real troubadour.

She has a great voice, but she's also made some real clunkers recently, like a CD of lullabyes. Yuck.

[speedoo]

15. I recall some good stuff she did with Nevilles.

Back in the 80's or 90's.

[speedoo]

13. Linda's wonderful. When I was younger, I had ...

a HUGE crush on her.

Great voice, great performer, great person.

[APPLE314]

14. Wore out my trio CD - n/t

[Left Is Write]

16. I remember when she caused that hubbub.

I've always liked Linda!

[Carla in Ca]

18. I saw her back in the 70's

at The Golden Bear in Huntington Beach. A friend from school took me to see her as a birthday present. I remember she had huge hoop earrings and was barefoot. I don't remember any of the songs she sang, it was so long ago but I've always been a fan. One of the most versatile singers ever.

[Squeech]

19. Once upon a time

she performed at Sun City, the South African apartheid regime's notorious showplace resort. That got her a conservative reputation back in the '70s.

My musical problems with Ronstadt are (a) her voice is arguably too strong, and I never felt she really know what to do with anything that didn't require her to sing in high gear, and related problem (b) she does a lot of material that really doesn't suit her and isn't any good (I got off the bus when she did her "new wave" album Mad Love, which was awful).

There's a wonderful story that she was in the audience when Fairport Convention played Los Angeles for the first time (or maybe it was just their first tour without Sandy Denny). The audience kept calling them back for encores, and they really didn't have anything else to play, but they spotted Ronstadt and invited her up, and asked her if she still did "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" in the same key she recorded it in, which she said she did. And if you remember, the vocal starts it and the band comes in-- and of course the band was right there, on pitch, when they were supposed to be. Unfortunately no tapes of this performance have come to light :nopity:

[stanwyck]

20. Hard to imagine now, but back in the '70's

she appeared in Rolling Stone in a red slip, (very discreet by today's standards) and that earned her a "slut" image.
I've always loved her voice.
When I get together with the other "girls" of a certain age....she's one of the singers we play way too loud and scream the lyrics, especially to "You're No Good".
Baby, you're no good.

[Bridget Burke]

21. Yup. She's had a long & varied career.

I loved her early folk/rock/country stuff. First saw her in Houston. Gram & Emmylou were playing at a club here; Linda was in town opening for Neil Young. So she & Neil dropped by to sing along.

Linda has tried many styles, with varying success. She didn't have the snotty, ironic attitude that suits New Wave. But her Gilbert & Sullivan was pretty damn good.

She toured a couple of times after "Canciones," accompanied by a first-rate mariachi band, dancers, atmospheric scenery & lovely costumes. I caught one show--you can buy it on DVD. Her full throated voice & direct emotion suited the classic music very well, indeed.



http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/

[LanternWaste]

22. She's Lindalicious!

Although her Stone Ponies and seventies-into-eighties career was her most commercially succesful, I looove her Lush Life album. She has the perfect voice to sing "Someone to Watch Over me". MMMmmmm..... she's Lindalicious!

[yellowdogintexas]

23. Purest voice out there. Love her!

Been a big fan for years, and she is a good Liberal too.